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THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 










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The Tower of Blair Hall 

Drawn by John P. Cuyler 



The HANDBOOK of 

PRINCETON 

By 
JOHN ROGERS WILLIAMS 

General Editor of the Princeton Historical Association 

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

WOODROW WILSON, LL.D. 

President of Princeton University 





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THE GRAFTON PRESS 

70 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK CITY 



i Iwu Oopies rfeceiveti | 

m e 1905 



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Copyright, 1905, by 
THE GRAFTON PRESS. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction xi 

I. History of the University i 

11. Grounds and Buildings of the University . . 33 

III. Upperclass Clubs and the University Athletic 

Grounds 83 

IV. The Town 93 

V. The Princeton Theological Seminary . . .131 

VI. The Lawrenceville School 139 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



FACING 
PAGE 



The Tower of Blair Hall. Drawn by John P. Cuyler . Frontispiece 

The Old President's House 6 • 

Nassau Hall in 1776 10 ' 

Edwards Hall 12 / 

WiTHERSPOON Hall 14 ' 

George Washington. From the Portrait by Charles Wilson Peale in Nassau 

Hall 18' 

The John C. Green School of Science 24 / 

Stafford Little Hall 26/ 

McCosH Hall 28 

The University Campus, Map 33 ^ 

Nassau Hall 34 ' 

Upper Pyne. Drawn by John P. Cuyler - 38 / 

David Brown Hall 4° 

Plan of Main Hall, E. M. Museum 42 

Key to Portrait Gallery, Nassau Hall 42- 

Lower Pyne 46 - 

Alexander Hall 48 

Blair Hall 5° 

Clio Hall and the Big Cannon 52' 

Interior of Alexander Hall 54 ' 

The Library Tower 5^ 

Eastward Across the Old Quadrangle 58 

The University Library 6° 

John C. Green. From a Portrait at the Lawrenceville School . .62, 

Marquand Chapel and Murray and Dodge Halls 64' 

Prospect ^^ 



Seventy-nine Hall 



68 



Albert B. Dod Hall 7° 

Dynamo Room, University Power Plant 72 

The University Cottage Club 74 

vii 



VIU LIST OF ILLUSTRATONS 



FACING 
PAGE 



Blair and Little Halls 76 

The Tower of Little Hall. Drawn by John P. Cuyler . . . 78' 

Upperclass Clubs and the University Athletic Grounds . . - 83- 

The Ivy Club 84 

The Tiger Inn 86 

The Elm Club 88' 

Princeton- Yale Baseball Game, University Field, June 11, 1904 . 90 ■ 

Map of Princeton 93- 

Old Quaker Meeting House 94 

Drumthwacket 96 

The Barracks 98 

Morven 100 

Avalon 104 

Edgerstoune 106 

The Battlefield of Princeton io8k 

Plan of the Battle of Princeton no 

Old Clarke House, where Mercer Died 112 

Worth's Mill and the Old Bridge, Stony Brook 114 

Washington's Headquarters, Rocky Hill 116 

Nassau Hotel, Old College Inn 118 

Westland, Residence of Ex-President Cleveland 120, 

The Princeton Bank 122 

Birthplace of Commodore Bainbridge 124 

Graves of the Presidents, Princeton Cemetery 126 

Alexander Hall, Seminary 132 

Lenox Reference Library, Seminary 134 

Grounds and Buildings of the Lawrenceville School .... 139 

Foundation House, Lawrenceville School 140 

Upper House, Lawrenceville School 142 

Edith Chapel and Memorial Hall, Lawrenceville School . . .144 
The Gymnasium, Lawrenceville School 146 



INTRODUCTION 



INTRODUCTION 

Everyone who knows Princeton feels that it has an atmosphere 
and a spirit of its own, and I suppose that the ideal introduction 
to a book of this sort would contain an analysis of that distinctive 
charm and character. But, long as I have felt that charm and 
acknowledged affectionate allegiance to Princeton, I should de- 
spair of giving its character adequate interpretation. The spirit 
of a place, however distinctly felt, is too subtle a thing to be 
caught in words. It can be perceived only in its effects, realized 
only in the life which it produces. It is easy enough to state the 
ideals upon which the Ufe of Princeton is based : they are mani- 
fest to all who stand inside her walls ; the subtle thing which 
escapes analysis lies in the processes by which those ideals are 
sought in action. 

At the heart of the influences which have made the place there 
undoubtedly lies the love of sound and liberal learning, a very 
manly reverence and enthusiasm for those things which prepare 
the spirits of men for the tasks and fortunes of life, making them 
quicker than their fellows to catch the outlooks of their journey 
and perceive the essential values of what falls in their way. The 
average undergraduate carries himself with a careless freedom 
which has very little in it of the pose of the thoughtful student. 
His love is for sport and good comradeship and the things that 
give zest to the common life of the campus. You would not 
think him, in passing, a man who cared for books or learning ; 

(xi) 



XU INTRODUCTION 

and generally he is not, — not, at any rate, in any such sense as 
that in which his teachers and preceptors are lovers of the writ- 
ten page and the processes of quiet study. There are under- 
graduates whose chief care is for these things, indeed, and if they 
are a minority, they are a very large and important minority ; 
but the ordinary undergraduate is not educating himself, as these 
men are ; he is being educated. He knows it, and has a certain 
strong, even if unconscious, respect for the thing that is happen- 
ing to him. He knows that it is the essential power and dis- 
tinction of the place, where for long generations together men 
have been held to intellectual tasks ; that the welfare and ad- 
vancement of the nation somehow depend upon these processes, 
and certainly the greatness and permanence of the University 
which he loves. There would be no dignity in his pleasure, no 
distinction in his life with genial comrades, were the University 
and all that is done in it not lifted above all ordinary levels by 
tasks and ideals which are of the mind and spirit. 

It is in much the same way that a strong and manly religion 
plays its part in ruling the spirit of the place. And yet here the 
motive force proceeds from the undergraduates themselves rather 
than from older men, their teachers, in the class room and labora- 
tory. The University may be said to be rooted and grounded in 
religious conviction. She was established and has throughout 
all her life been maintained by men whose performance of their 
duty took its zest and vigour from their clear religious faith, and 
with whom the care of religion was as high and sacred an object 
as the care and furtherance of learning. But religion cannot be 
handled like learning. It is a matter of individual conviction and 
its source is the heart. Its life and vigour must lie, not in of- 
ficial recognition or fosterage, but in the temper and character of 
the undergraduates themselves. That religion lies at the heart 
of Princeton's Ufe is shown, not in the teachings of the class room 



INTRODUCTION XIU 



and of the chapel pulpit, but in the widespread, spontaneous, un- 
flagging religious activity of the undergraduates themselves, in 
voluntary organization, and above all in the fact that men of all 
sorts, not serious students alone, but men out of every group and 
every sport and every interest of the various little community as 
well, take their active part in promoting faith and the right living 
that springs out of it. Sound and liberal learning and equally 
sound and liberal religion lie together at the foundation of all that 
her sons most admire in the University. 

The place has its free air of pleasure and of good fellowship 
because its love of letters has never been belittled into pedantry 
and the mere love of books. . Letters have been for it an ex- 
pression of life, interesting because the utterance of men, the 
record of what is real and of actual deep consequence wherever 
men would act upon reason and not upon mere blind instinct. 
It has always, so far as we can discover, been a place which 
chiefly loved men, and loved books because they were the serv- 
ants of men, lifting his spirit and clearing his vision for the 
work of the world's day. 

It has been a sign and evidence of this that affairs have al- 
ways so quickly and easily affected it. It has always been quick 
to think of the country and take up the themes of first conse- 
quence to it. It first showed this temper and disposition at the 
Revolution, when, under the leadership of John Witherspoon, 
the great Scotsman who did so much to give it character, it gave 
its best life to the cause of the revolted colonies and bred both 
lawyers and statesmen for the young republic ; and it has never 
lost the spirit of that time ; has never been local or shut in or 
confined to a single interest, but has felt that it belonged to the 
country in its entirety, — patriotic in the best sense, knowing no 
other allegiance. To this every true son of the place testifies. 
His horizon is that of the nation itself, his sense of privilege and 



XIV INTRODUCTION 

responsibility as strong in the field Of politics as in the field of 
letters. 

It would be hard to say whether the free comradeship and 
democracy of Princeton life is cause or effect in relation to these 
things. No doubt it has been of deep consequence to her that 
her life has been formed in a place apart, where no city dominated 
her and she herself constituted an independent community. 
The village of Princeton, though spread abroad over a great area 
on either side the old highway upon which the original settlers 
found it most convenient to lay out their farms and place their 
homes, has less than four thousand inhabitants. Its life centres 
in and depends upon the life of the University. It has, indeed, 
time out of mind been the place of residence of a few prominent 
families whose interests connected them with the affairs of the 
commonwealth, not with the affairs of the University. Their 
homes, placed amidst broad lawns and pleasant gardens, have 
always constituted a chief part of the beauty of the town. And 
in later years other handsome residences have been built and the 
green acres about them smoothed and beautified, as graduates 
of the University and other, newer friends, attracted by the quiet 
and dignity of the place, have been drawn to it by natural choice 
or inclination ; so that it has become more than ever a place of 
stately homes and of interesting circles of people without official 
connection with the University. But it is unquestionably the 
life created by the University that has drawn these families to 
the town. Every one remarks its academic tone and atmosphere 
and feels the domination of the ancient institution at its centre 
whose broad campus and stately buildings give character and 
distinction to the town. 

The life of the campus goes forward almost without heed of 
the life of the town. Its own affairs absorb it : it is a separate 
community, observing laws and customs of its own. It cherishes 



INTRODUCTION XV 

its own traditions, its own standards of taste, its own ideals of 
conduct and mastery, — some of them very whimsical and bear- 
ing evident traces of the fact that its men have not entirely 
ceased to be boys, but quite as many sober, elevated, well con- 
sidered, the outcome of a great deal of serious observation and 
a long experience of university life. A university generation is 
only four years : within that short space of time the entire un- 
dergraduate body changes ; but the tradition is unbroken, is 
kept alive by class after class, in most cases with very jealous 
care, and the continuity of the life is not interrupted. Only one 
class graduates at a time ; only one is added at a time ; the new 
class is each year quickly and thoroughly instructed in its duty. 
The most influential Seniors govern their own class and the 
University in all matters of opinion and of undergraduate ac- 
tion. They are the leading citizens of the little community. 
They are self -selected. They lead because they have been 
found to be the men who can do things best, the men who have 
the most initiative and seem best to embody the spirit of the 
place in the way they look at things and determine mooted 
questions of action. " Leading citizens " are everywhere se- 
lected in the same way, — not by formal election, but by their 
own qualities and natural gifts of leadership ; and by the time 
classmates have reached their senior year there is never any 
doubt as to who are the leading characters among them. Their 
intimate life together, their close comradeship and observation 
of each other, have thoroughly tried out their several qualities 
and capacities. Student life at Princeton depends upon the com- 
pact and intimate organization of classes which is so character- 
istic of the place. Each class is an organized body and acts as 
a unit in all the chief transactions of university life ; and 
among the classes the senior class occupies a place of natural 
leadership and initiative. The university authorities consult the 



XVI INTRODUCTION 



leading Seniors as a matter of course upon every new or critical 
matter in which opinion plays a part and in which undergradu- 
ate life is involved. They feel the counsel of these men to be 
indispensable. They know that it will be seriously given and 
that its chief motive will be love of the University, a care for its 
best interests, a desire to see its life bettered in every possible 
way for which opinion is ripe or can be ripened. 

It is this community feeling and action, this natural constitu- 
tion of leadership, this sense of close comradeship among the un- 
dergraduates, not only but also between the undergraduates and 
the Faculty, that constitutes the spirit of the place and makes its 
ideals and aspirations part of thought and action. It naturally 
follows, too, that graduates never feel their connection with the 
place and its life entirely broken, but return again and again to 
renew their old associations, and are consulted at every critical 
turn in its affairs. Such comradeship in affairs, moreover, breeds 
democracy inevitably. Democracy, the absence of social dis- 
tinctions, the treatment of every man according to his merits, 
his most serviceable qualities and most likeable traits, is of the 
essence of such a place, its most cherished characteristic. 

The spirit of the place, therefore, is to be found in no one 
place or trait or organization : neither in its class rooms nor on 
its campus, but in its life as a whole. Hence its love of men 
and of affairs, its preference for practical religion, in which ini- 
tiative rests with its own volunteers, its patriotic feeling for the 
country as a whole, its predilection for the sort of learning which 
gives men horizon in their thinking and schools their wits and 
spirits for the tasks and changes of life. It lives and grows by 
comradeship and community of thought : that constitutes its 
charm ; binds the spirits of its sons to it with a devotion at once 
ideal and touched with passion ; takes hold of the imagination 
even of the casual visitor, if he have the good fortune to see a 



INTRODUCTION Xvii 

little way beneath the surface ; dominates its growth and prog- 
ress ; determines its future. The most careless and thoughtless 
undergraduate breathes and is governed by it. It is the genius 
of the place. 

WooDRow Wilson. 

March 27, 1905. 



HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 



THE 

HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

I 

HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 

The history of Princeton University may be said to date back 
to the birth of the Log College, in the year 1726, so closely is it 
associated with the little academy built by William Tennent at 
the Forks of the Neshaminy. By the success of this famous 
school Tennent proved to the growing settlements of the middle 
colonies that they need not be dependent upon distant seminaries 
of learning for an educated ministry, and paved the way for an 
educational institution founded upon a far broader plan. 

William Tennent, the founder of the Log College, was born 
in Ireland and received his education at the University of Edin- 
burgh, from which he was graduated in 1695. A few years later 
he was ordained a priest in the Church of Ireland ; but, being a 
man of broad and liberal views, he became dissatisfied with the 
terms imposed upon the Episcopal clergy and emigrated to 
America. Here he was admitted to the Presbyterian Church 
and for a time labored in the province of New York, from which 
he removed to the county of Bucks in Pennsylvania. Settling at 
a point afterwards known as the Forks of the Neshaminy, Ten- 

A I 



2 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

nent opened a school which later became well known as the Log 
College. It was only a school ; its curriculum was limited in the 
main to instruction in the classics ; but by the notable success 
of its graduates it proved itself a rival of the older colleges of 
Harvard and Yale and even of the Scottish universities. Here, 
during its brief existence, were educated many whose names are 
intimately associated with the founding and early history of 
Princeton. Among them may be mentioned Gilbert and William 
Tennent, gifted sons of the founder, who are named as Trustees 
in both the first and second charters of the College of New 
Jersey ; Samuel Finley, Trustee under the first charter and after- 
ward fifth President of the college ; Samuel Blair, one of the first 
Trustees ; John Blair, Trustee, Vice President, and the first pro- 
fessor in the Institution ; and Charles Beatty, Trustee, to whose 
untiring efforts in securing funds is due in no small degree the 
maintenance of the College during the most critical period of its 
history. With the death of its founder, which occurred in 1746, 
the work of the Log College was over. Its lesson, however, 
was not overlooked. 

Shortly before the death of the elder Tennent certain broad- 
minded and influential Presbyterian clergymen, among whom 
were Jonathan Dickinson, John Pierson, Ebenezer Pemberton 
and Aaron Burr, not satisfied with the limited course of instruc- 
tion offered at the Log College, turned their thoughts toward the 
establishment of an institution in which ample provision should 
be made for a wide and liberal education. They acted with- 
out ecclesiastical authority and sought to build up a college, 
free from the supervision of a church judicatory, wherein 
the youth of every religious denomination might find instruc- 
tion "in the learned Languages and in the liberal Arts and 
Sciences," 

A few years before this, in 1739, the Presbyterian Church, 



HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 3 

through its Synod of Philadelphia, had given its attention to the 
founding of a college for the instruction of its clergy. A com- 
mittee, of which both Dickinson and Burr were members, had 
been appointed " to prosecute this affair with proper directions," 
but owing to dissensions within the church, which at this time 
abounded, the movement came to nothing and the plan was aban- 
doned. 

With Burr and his colleagues thought meant action. They 
were convinced of the futility of awaiting any movement on the 
part of the united church, which they neither sought nor desired, 
and were fully aware of the evils which would arise from ecclesi- 
astical supervision. They were young men, for the most part, 
full of a great purpose, and were determined to give their college 
the benefit of a broad and sound foundation. To this end a char- 
ter was sought for the building of a college in New Jersey. This 
charter was granted on the 2 2d of October, 1746, and passed the 
great seal of the Province, attested by John Hamilton, president 
of his Majesty's Council, then acting Governor of New Jersey. 
In the office of the Secretary of State at Trenton a memorandum 
to this effect appears among the records, but the charter itself is 
not given. The following advertisement, which was published in 
the Pennsylvania Gazette^ August 1 3, 1 747, however, reveals its 
substance : 

" Philadelphiay August 13, 1746-7. 
" These are to give Notice to all concerned ^ That by His Maj- 
esty's Royal Charter for erecting a college in New-Jersey, for the 
instructing of youth in the learned languages, and in the liberal 
arts and sciences, bearing date October 22d, 1746, Messrs, Wil- 
liam Smith, Peter Vanbrugh Livingston, William Peartree Smith, 
gent, and Messrs. Jonathan Dickenson, John Pierson, Ebenezer 
Pemberton, and Aaron Burr, ministers of the gospel, are appointed 



4 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

trustees of the said college ; with full power to any four or more of 
them, to chuse five more trustees to the exercise of equal power 
and authority in the said college, with themselves. By virtue of 
which power, the said trustees, nominated in the charter, have 
chosen the Rev. Messrs. Gilbert Tennant, William Tennant, 
Samuel Blair, Richard Treat, and Samuel Finley, as trustees of 
the said college of New-Jersey : 

" Which trustees are by the said charter, constituted a body cor- 
porate and politick, both in fact and name, with full power to act 
as such to all intents and Purposes, and rendred capable of a 
perpetual succession to continue forever. By which royal char- 
ter, there is authority given to the major part of any seven or 
more of the said trustees, and there successors conveen'd for that 
purpose, to purchase, receive, and dispose of any possessions, 
tenements, goods and chattels, gifts, legacies, donations and be- 
quests, rents, profits and annuities of any kind whatsoever, and 
to build any house or houses, as they shall think proper, for the 
use of the said college. And also by the said charter is given to 
the major part of any seven or more of the said trustees and their 
successors, full power to chuse, and at pleasure to displace, a presi- 
dent, tutors, professors, treasurer, clerk, steward, and usher, with 
any other ministers, and officers as are usual in any of the uni- 
versities or colleges in the realm of Great Britain. 

" And also by the said charter is given to the major part of any 
seven of the said trustees and there successors, full power to 
make any laws, acts and ordinances, for the government of the 
said college, as are not repugnant to the laws and Statutes of the 
realm of Great Britain, nor to the Laws of the province of New- 
Jersey ; provided, that no person be debarred any of the privi- 
leges of the said college on account of any speculative principles 
of religion ; but those of every religious profession, have equal 
privilege and advantage of education in the said college. And 



HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 5 

also by the said charter, power is given to the major part of any 
seven of the said trustees and their successors, by their president, 
or any other appointed by them, to give any such degrees as are 
given in any of the universities or colleges in the realm of Great 
Britain, to any such as they shall judge qualified for such degrees ; 
and power to have and use a common seal to seal and confirm 
diplomas or certificates of such degrees, or for any other use 
which they shall think proper. 

" And these may further notify all concern'd, that the said 
trustees have chosen the Rev. Mr. Jonathan Dickinson president, 
whose superior Abilities are well known ; and Mr. Caleb Smith 
tutor of the said college ; and that the college is now actually 
opened, to be kept at Elizabeth-Town, till a building can be 
erected in a more central place of the said province for the resi- 
dence of the Students ; that all who are qualified for it, may be 
immediately admitted to an academick education, and to such 
class and station in the college, as they are found upon examina- 
tion to deserve ; and that the charge of the college to each stu- 
dent, will be Four Pounds a year New-Jersey money, at Eight 
Shillings per ounce, and no more." 

In this memorandum of the first charter it will be seen that 
the remaining five Trustees, chosen by the first named seven, 
were all, save Richard Treat, leading men of the Log College, 
With the death of William Tennent the founder, the work of the 
Log College was recognized as over and its forces, represented 
by the Tennents, Samuel Blair, and Samuel Finley, were merged 
in the younger and more liberally conceived institution. In cast- 
ing in their lot with the first trustees of the College of New 
Jersey, the supporters of the Log College were probably in- 
fluenced by a knowledge of the narrow scope of the little academy 
they had fostered and its utter inability to meet the existing re- 
quirements for an institution of learning. 



6 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

Two years later, on the 14th of September, 1748, a second 
charter was granted by Jonathan Belcher, royal governor of New 
Jersey. This differed but little from the first, the privileges and 
design of the institution remaining the same, but the number of 
the Trustees was increased from twelve to twenty-three and the 
Governor of the Province, ex-officio, became President of the 
Board. After the Revolution this charter was confirmed and 
renewed by the State of New Jersey. Such was the wisdom 
and forethought of its makers and the broadness of their views 
that this instrument remains today, substantially as written at 
the outset, the charter of Princeton University. 

Shortly after the granting of the first charter measures were 
taken to open the College. On February 2, 1747, a notice ap- 
peared in a New York newspaper informing "any Person or 
Persons who are qualified by preparatory Learning for Admis- 
sion, that some time in May next at latest they may be there 
admitted to an Academic Education." A few weeks later it was 
stated in the same journal "that the Trustees of the College of 
New Jersey have appointed the Reverend Mr. Jonathan Dickin- 
son, President of the said College ; which will be opened the 
fourth week in May next, at Elizabeth-Town." 

The first term of the College was opened at the house of Mr. 
Dickinson in Elizabeth. A few months later, upon the death of 
President Dickinson, the College was removed to Newark and 
its charge devolved upon the Rev. Aaron Burr. Here, on the 
9th of November, 1 748, was celebrated with much ceremony the 
first Commencement. This was an event of some moment in 
the Province and was attended by the Governor and by a nu- 
merous and brilliant audience. A full account of the proceedings 
was published in the principal New York paper, prefaced by the 
statement that " as the Acts of a publick Commencement are 
little known in these Parts, perhaps the following Relation from 




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HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 7 

an Eye and Ear witness, may be agreeable to many of your 
Readers." The graduating class numbered six. 

In casting about for a desirable site for the permanent loca- 
tion of the College the towns of Princeton and New Brunswick 
at once commended themselves to the attention of the Trustees. 
Princeton, midway upon the great highway between New York 
and Philadelphia, had been settled by Quakers in 1696. It was 
healthfully and conveniently located but was as yet only a small 
village. New Brunswick, also upon the great highway, appealed 
more strongly to the Board because of its greater size and wealth, 
and it was decided to build the College there providing the citi- 
zens would contribute ** A Thousand Pounds proc. Money, ten 
acres of land contiguous to the College, and two hundred acres 
of Wood Land." The Trustees, well aware of the pecuniary 
value of the College to the town in which it should be placed, 
were desirous of securing the most advantageous terms, but the 
good people of New Brunswick do not seem to have been eager 
to comply with their conditions. It was therefore determined 
that " the College be fixed at Princeton upon Condition that the 
Inhabitants of sd. Place secure to the Trustees that two Hundred 
Acres of Woodland, and that ten Acres of clear'd Land which 
Mr. Sergeant view'd ; and also one thousand Pounds proc. Money." 
The townsmen willingly agreed to the terms of the Trustees and 
the money and ground were quickly contributed. Mr, Nathaniel 
Fitz Randolph, a son of one of the early settlers in Princeton, 
donated four and one-half acres of land on " the broad street " 
upon which the College buildings were later erected. 

Governor Belcher's part in the successful establishment of 
the College was one of no small importance and his influence 
had much to do with the settlement at Princeton. " I find the 
people of this Province," wrote the Governor, " are in a poor 
situation for educating their children. I am therefore for pro- 



8 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

meting the building of a College for the Instruction of Youth. 
This affair was agitated before my arrival, and much contested 
between the gentlemen of the Eastern and those of the West- 
ern Division, where it should be placed, and I have got them to 
agree to have it built at Princetown, in the Western Division, 
being (I apprehend) nearest to the center of the Province." In 
another letter he says : " By the Scarborough I have wrote to 
several of my rich Friends in England of this noble design, and I 
doubt not of obtaining some Donations from them, and, God 
sparing my life, they will find me a faithful friend." This, in 
the fullest sense, he proved to be. His counsels and his influ- 
ence were ever at the disposal of the Trustees, and he gave gen- 
erously from his own none too plentiful means. Governor Bel- 
cher's personal interest in the College, which he styled his 
"adopted daughter," had much to do with placing it upon a se- 
cure foundation. 

When the vexed question of location was finally settled the 
Trustees at once set about the task of erecting suitable build- 
ings. They were determined, for the complete success of their 
enterprise, to build and to build well, for they regarded an ade- 
quate and substantial edifice as of scarcely less importance than 
the charter itself. The cost of such a building, however, was 
entirely beyond their ability to provide for and as the funds 
needed were larger than could be conveniently had in the Colonies 
it was decided to appeal for aid from abroad. For this purpose 
the Rev. Gilbert Tennent and the Rev. Samuel Davies, members 
of the Board, undertook the voyage to England in the fall of 
1753, and, their efforts meeting with success, the Trustees were 
enabled to proceed without delay with the erection of a " College 
Hall " and a dwelling for the President. 

Plans for these two buildings, which the Trustees approved, 
had been prepared by Dr. Shippen and Mr. Robert Smith, of 



HI3TORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 9 

Philadelphia. It was first ordered that ** the College be built 
of Brick if good Brick can be made at Princeton & if Sand can 
be got reasonably cheap. That it be three story high & with- 
out any Cellar." At a subsequent meeting, however, it was de- 
cided that stone be used as this could be readily obtained near 
the Town. 

Ground for the main building was broken on the 29th of July, 
1754, and soon afterward the cornerstone was laid in the pres- 
ence of the prominent townsmen and a number of the Trustees. 
The buildings were completed and the students removed from 
Newark to Princeton in the fall of 1756. " We do everything," 
wrote President Burr, " in the plainest manner, as far as is con- 
sistent with Decency and Convenience, having no superfluous 
Ornaments ; " nevertheless the College building was the largest 
and finest structure of its kind in the Provinces. In honor of 
the valuable services which the Governor had rendered them 
the Trustees determined to name the building " Belcher Hall." 
But this the Governor very modestly declined, requesting the 
Board, instead, to call the edifice " Nassau Hall," as expressing 
" the Honour we retain, in this remote Part of the Globe to the 
immortal Memory of the Glorious King William the 3d, who 
was a Branch of the illustrious House of NASSAU." 

Hardly had the College been settled at its permanent seat 
when death claimed two of its most powerful supporters. Gov- 
ernor Belcher died on Wednesday, August 31, 1757, and Presi- 
dent Burr, who had so successfully carried forward the work of 
organization, was borne to the grave a few weeks later. His 
death occurred on the 24th of September, four days before the 
annual Commencement of that year. 

As President Wilson (then Professor of Jurisprudence) said 
in the course of an address delivered upon the occasion of the one 
hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the first charter, 



lO THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

" it was the men, rather than their measures, as usual, that had 
made the college vital from the first and put it in a sure way to 
succeed." In President Burr the qualities of organizer and ex- 
ecutive were not more conspicuous than his great ability as a 
teacher, and the credit for the successful establishment of the 
Institution, so far as such an undertaking can be said to lie 
within the power of a single individual, is due to him more than 
to any other. To Jonathan Belcher also the debt is great. His 
interest and his influence gave the College its real powers, and 
his wisdom and foresight made the charter the sure foundation 
upon which the walls and towers of Princeton are so securely 
built. 

At the meeting of the Trustees held September 29, 1757, the 
Rev. Jonathan Edwards of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, was 
chosen to fill the chair left vacant by the death of President Burr. 
The salary of the office was placed at " Two Hundred Pounds 
proclamation money of this Province, together with the use of 
the President's House and the Improved Lands, with Liberty of 
getting his Fire-Wood on the Lands belonging to the Corpora- 
tion." Jonathan Edwards, the father-in-law of President Burr, was 
already doubtless in close touch with the administrative affairs of 
the College. His fame as a metaphysician and preacher was 
known throughout the length and breadth of the Colonies, and 
the Trustees, several years prior to the death of President Burr, 
had had it in their minds to call him to the chair of Divinity 
which they proposed to establish, and were prevented from doing 
so only by the lack of funds with which to carry out their pur- 
pose. His choice as President, therefore, followed very naturally. 

President Edwards after some delay arrived at Princeton and 
took the oath as directed by the charter, February 16, 1758. 
His term of office in the College was destined to be the briefest 
in the history of her presidents, for death came quickly and left 







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HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 1 1 

the Institution only his name. A week after his arrival Presi- 
dent Edwards was inoculated for the smallpox, then prevalent 
in the Colony, and died on the 2 2d of March. 

Again the Trustees were called upon to choose a President, 
and at their meeting, April 19, 1758, elected the Rev. James 
Lockwood of Wethersfield, Connecticut, at the same time ap- 
pointing the Rev. Caleb Smith, a member of the Board, Presi- 
dent pro tempore. Mr. Lockwood declined the office and the 
Rev. Samuel Davies of Virginia was the next choice of the 
Board. Davies was an orator of note and was considered " next 
to Whitefield, the most eloquent preacher of his age." It is in- 
teresting to note that Mr. Lockwood also declined the Presidency 
of Yale College, which office was offered to him in 1766 upon 
the resignation of President Clap, 

The Rev. Mr. Davies did not arrive in Princeton until the 
26th of July, 1759, when he took the oath of office. His ad- 
ministration also was brief, his death occurring February 4, 1761, 
after little more than a year's service. He gave much of his 
time to building up a suitable library for the College. At the 
request of the Trustees a catalogue of all the books in the Col- 
lege library was prepared by him and printed at the celebrated 
press of James Parker in Woodbridge, New Jersey, in 1 760. In 
a preface to this catalogue, which contained twelve hundred en- 
tries, President Davies sets forth ** the Design of the Publica- 
tion," asserting that " A large and well-sorted Collection of Books 
on the Various Branches of Literature is the most ornamental 
and useful Furniture of a College ; and the most proper and val- 
uable Fund with which it can be endowed." 

When Samuel Davies was chosen President, some of the Trus- 
tees had spoken favorably of the Rev, Samuel Finley of Notting- 
ham, in Pennsylvania, and upon the death of Davies no other 
person appears to have been thought of for the presidency. Fin- 



12 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

ley was unanimously elected President of the College, June i, 
1 76 1, and soon afterward assumed the duties of his office. Dur- 
ing his administration, which lasted until July 17, 1766, the date 
of his death, the increase in the number of students was main- 
tained, but there were no material changes in the course of in- 
struction or in the management of the College. 

In the short period of nineteen years, since the day President 
Dickinson had gathered about him a little group of pupils in his 
house at Elizabeth, Burr and Edwards and Davies and Finley 
had come to preside, all too briefly, over the affairs of the Col- 
lege. Nevertheless, in the face of successive losses, the growth 
of the Institution had gone steadily forward and it had begun to 
take its place with the older colleges in the educational affairs 
of the day, when the shadow of the Revolution, then lengthening 
over the colonies, checked all progress and for a time threatened 
its very life. 

At this important crisis came John Witherspoon from Scotland 
to take the presidency left vacant by the death of Samuel Fin- 
ley. The spirit of resistance to Parliament, provoked by the 
passage of the Stamp Act and other hated measures was nowhere 
more manifest than at Princeton. As early as 1765 the under- 
graduates had shown their patriotism by voting to appear at the 
Commencement dressed only in stuffs of American manufacture. 
A few years later they burned the steward's winter store of tea, 
and the effigy of Governor Hutchinson of Massachusetts shared 
a like fate, a tea-cannister tied about its neck. It was a piece 
of providential good fortune that brought such a man as John 
Witherspoon to Princeton at such a time. He was possessed of 
varied and unusual talents, some of which may well have come 
to him from his ancestor, the great John Knox. '' A man so 
compounded of statesman and scholar, Calvinist, Scotsman, and 
orator that it must ever be a sore puzzle where to place or rank 




Q 



HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 1 3 

him — whether among great divines, great teachers, or great 
statesmen. He seems to be all these and to defy classification, 
so big is he, so various, so prodigal of gifts." 

John Witherspoon was born in the parish of Yester in Scot- 
land and received his education at the University of Edinburgh. 
A few years after graduation he was licensed to preach, and 
presently settled in the flourishing town of Paisley. He declined 
the first offer of the Trustees of Princeton, but accepted a second 
election to the presidency of the College and came to America 
during the summer of 1768. He was inaugurated on the 17th of 
August. On the evening of his arrival Nassau Hall was illumi- 
nated, and an early chronicler tells us that " the adjacent country, 
and even the Province at large, shared in the joy of the occa- 
sion." 

One of the first measures attending the new administration 
was the strict enforcement of a regulation requiring the students 
and officers to appear at all times, during the session of the Col- 
lege, " uniformly habited in a proper collegiate black gown and 
square cap." The penalty for disobedience was set at five shil- 
lings. This rule, however, proved most unpopular and was al- 
lowed to lapse ; the gowns disappeared, except upon public oc- 
casions, and in the end were seen as at the present day, only at 
the annual Commencements. Another innovation introduced by 
Witherspoon was the method of teaching by lectures. This had 
been practised to some extent by his predecessors but Wither- 
spoon greatly improved and expanded the system of instruction, 
adding new branches and personally delivering lectures upon 
moral philosophy, divinity, history, and composition. 

From the day when men in America first dared to dream of 
independence the history of the College is identified with that of 
the nation. Witherspoon, accounted " as high a son of Liberty 
as any man in America," was among the first to see the necessity 



14 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

for a severance of the ties which bound the colonies to the 
mother country. Elected to the convention that framed the 
State's constitution, he surprised his fellow-members with his 
knowledge of the law and with his eloquence. He was chosen 
one of the State's representatives in the Continental Congress 
and served in that body with distinction until, late in 1782, he 
withdrew to give his entire time to the building up of the Col- 
lege, which had suffered terribly during the great struggle. 
While in Congress Witherspoon openly advocated a declaration 
of independence and did more, perhaps, than any other man in 
bringing about that measure. He served upon numerous com- 
mittees and gave his time alike to matters of war and of finance. 
Many of the most important state papers are from his gifted 
pen. 

Notwithstanding the time which he gave to the service of his 
adopted country, Witherspoon never forgot or neglected the In- 
stitution over which he had been called to preside. New Jersey 
was the destined battlefield of the Revolution and it required the 
strong hand of the great Scotsman to bring the College safely 
through those stormy days. For seven long years the varying 
fortunes of the war told heavily on the College. Its exercises 
of instruction were interrupted by the presence first of one and 
then of the other army. Nassau Hall was wrecked by their 
clash and occupancy, and the Hbrary and philosophical apparatus, 
including a famous orrery, * was scattered and destroyed. Around 

* This orrery, or working model of the solar system, had been built for the 
College by Joseph Rittenhouse, of Philadelphia, at a considerable cost. It was 
designed to give a clear impression of the relative distances of the planets from 
the sun and from each other, showing, at the same time, their proper magnitudes 
and motions. It was regarded by many as the most wonderful contrivance of 
the age ; no less a personage than Jefferson wrote of it, " The amazing mechan- 
ical representation of the solar system which you have conceived and executed 
has never been surpassed by any but the work of which it is a copy. " 



HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY *5 

and within its walls surged one of the most critical battles of the 
war. But through it all the indomitable courage and purpose 
of Witherspoon held the little band of pupils together, finding 
time even for the public exercises of Commencement, though 
driven from place to place. In his efforts to keep alive the Col- 
lege, Witherspoon was ably seconded by William Churchill 
Houston, then professor of mathematics and natural philosophy 
and fellow-member in the Congress, who shared the President's 
labors in matters of state as well as in the responsibilities of the 
lecture-room. 

Aside from Witherspoon, Princeton's share in the building of 
the nation is a most notable record. Perhaps it was the genius 
of her President, or it may have been the " spirit of '^6^' that 
placed so distinctive a stamp upon all who went from within her 
walls in that eventful period ; certain it is, however, that no in- 
stitution in the land gave to the service of the state a more dis- 
tinguished or a more eminent body of men than did the College 
of New Jersey. Foremost among her famous sons stands James 
Madison, fourth President of the United States and the acknowl- 
edged author of the Federal Constitution ; a favorite pupil of 
Witherspoon and one upon whom, more than upon any other, 
the distinctive characteristics of the master seem to have been 
impressed. Hardly less noted are, Aaron Burr, son of the former 
President of the College, Vice President of the United States, a 
soldier and statesman with " genius enough to have made him 
immortal, and unschooled passion enough to have made him in- 
famous ; " Phihp Freneau, poet of the Revolution, who under 
happier influences would have achieved a wider fame ; " Light- 
horse Harry " Lee, the dashing soldier whom men loved to fol- 
low ; Ephraim Brevard, author of the celebrated Mecklenburg 
resolutions of independence, which anticipated by more than a 
year the formal declaration by Congress ; Oliver Ellsworth, Wil- 



l6 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

liam Paterson, Benjamin Rush, Richard Stockton, Gunning Bed- 
ford, and many others, — a long line of men of notable quality 
who took leading parts in the great struggle for independence. 
During the brief period of Witherspoon's administration Prince- 
ton gave to the nation's service, twenty senators, twenty-three 
representatives, thirteen governors, three judges of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, one Vice President, and a President. 

There were, besides, great divines, great soldiers, and great 
teachers — no less than thirteen of Witherspoon's pupils became 
presidents of colleges — and, although the average number of 
graduates did not exceed nineteen in any year, there is no other 
period in the history of the Institution during which so large a 
proportion of her sons rose to distinction in after life. 

Dr. Witherspoon retired from pubHc service in 1782, the state 
of the country no longer demanding a sacrifice of his own inter- 
ests or those of the College. " I have now left Congress," wrote 
the Doctor, " not being able to support the expense of attending 
it, with the frequent journeys to Princeton, and being determined 
to give particular attention to the revival of the College." The 
ravages of the war and the depreciation of continental money had 
so reduced the funds of the Institution that the board were un- 
able for many years thoroughly to repair the damage inflicted 
upon the College buildings by both the British and American ar- 
mies. Money to meet the pressing needs of carrying on instruc- 
tion was solicited and liberally given but larger sums were needed 
for endowment and repairs ; the Trustees, therefore, determined 
to appeal again for aid from abroad. Dr. Witherspoon and Gen- 
eral Joseph Reed, a member of the board, undertook the journey 
to England and Scotland to solicit funds ; but the mission ac- 
complished nothing. It is not surprising that the good people of 
Great Britain, in view of their late unpleasantness with the col- 
onies, refused to contribute toward the support of such " a hot- 



HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 1/ 

bed of sedition " as they regarded Princeton, or to give much 
heed to the appeals of so renowned a rebel as its president, whom 
they had recently done the honor to hang in effigy side by side 
with General Washington and General Lee ! The Trustees next 
addressed an appeal to the Presbyteries composing the Synod of 
New York and Philadelphia. At the same time committees were 
appointed to solicit funds in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The 
result of these efforts was that, while no large gifts were received, 
the resources of the college were considerably strengthened and 
the Trustees were enabled to carry out the purposes of its erection 
without further interruption. 

The year of 1783 is a most notable one in the annals of the 
College. Congress, driven from Philadelphia by a mutinous body 
of troops, sought the seclusion of Princeton, and from June 26th 
until November 4th held its sessions in the library room of the 
College. Thus for a time Nassau Hall became the capitol of the 
nation. It was but natural that Congress should select Princeton 
for a temporary abode inasmuch as its president, Elias Boudinot, 
was an influential trustee of the College, while the President of 
the College, Dr. Witherspoon, had recently been a distinguished 
member of Congress. In addition to this the College building, at 
that time one of the largest structures of its kind in the country, 
offered a commodious retreat in a central though secluded part 
of the State. 

The Commencement exercises of 1783 were witnessed by a 
brilliant gathering. Never, perhaps, in the history of Princeton 
has so distinguished a body of men honored the Institution by 
their presence as upon this occasion. Out of compliment to the 
College, Congress adjourned in order to attend the exercises, so 
that there were present in the old church, which had been par- 
tially repaired, in addition to the Trustees and the graduating 
class, the members of Congress, his Excellency General Washing- 



1 8 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

ton, Commander in Chief of the Army, and M. de la Luzerne, the 
French Minister. 

The valedictorian upon this occasion was Ashbel Green, a 
member of the graduating class, who at a later date became Pres- 
ident of the College. At the close of his oration the young 
speaker turned and addressed some complimentary remarks to 
General Washington, which are said to have made his Excellency 
color with embarrassment. Dr. Green, in writing of this occur- 
rence many years after, states that the "next day he (General 
Washington) met me in the entry of the College as he was going 
to a committee-room of Congress, took me by the hand, walked 
with me a short time, flattered me a little, and desired me to 
present his best respects to my classmates, and his best wishes 
for their success in life. There has never been such an audience 
at a Commencement before, and perhaps there never will be 
again. Dr. Witherspoon was of course highly gratified." The 
only business transacted by the Board of Trustees that day was 
the adoption of the following resolution : 

" The Board being desirous to give some testimony of their 
high respect for the character of his excellency general Washing- 
ton, who has so auspiciously conducted the armies of America — 

" Resolved, that the Rev'd Drs. Witherspoon, Rodgers, & 
Jones, be a committee to wait upon his Excellency to request 
him to sit for his picture to be taken by Mr. Charles Wilson 
Peale of Philadelphia — And, ordered that his portrait, when 
finished, be placed in the hall of the college in the room of the 
picture of the late King of Great Britain, which was torn away 
by a ball from the American artillery in the battle of Princeton." 

The General on the following day presented to Dr. Wither- 
spoon fifty guineas which he begged the Trustees to accept " as 
a testimony of his respect for the College." The portrait was 
later painted by Mr. Peale and now adorns the walls of Nassau 




George Washington 

From the portrait by Charles Wilson Peale in Nassau Hall 



HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY IQ 

Hall, hanging in the very frame, above alluded to, from which 
the picture of his Majesty King George the Second had been shot 
away. 

After the retreat of the British from New Jersey, Dr. Wither- 
spoon retired to his country seat " Tusculum," a short distance 
from the town. Here he gave much of his time to his farm, 
though continuing to discharge the administrative duties of the 
presidency. " You know," wrote the Doctor to a friend in 
Scotland, " that I was always fond of being a scientific farmer. . . . 
I got a dreadful stroke from the English when they were here, 
they having seized and mostly destroyed my whole stock, and 
committed such ravages that we are not yet fully recovered from 
it." Here, amid the pleasant fields, were passed the last days 
of this great man in quietness and in peace. Death came to him 
gently upon the 15 th of November, 1794, and in the seventy- 
third year of his age and in the twenty-seventh of his pres- 
idency he was laid to rest, "full of honor and full of days," 

The Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith was unanimously chosen 
President on the 6th of May, 1795. For several years prior to 
this, as Vice President, he had occupied the President's house 
and had supervised the instruction and discipline of the College. 
Under President Smith's direction the course of instruction was 
broadened and the curriculum enlarged. One of the most im- 
portant changes of this nature was the establishment of a pro- 
fessorship in chemistry in 1795. This was the first provision 
for regular instruction in this branch of science made by an Amer- 
ican college. John Maclean, a young chemist of Scotland who 
had pursued his studies in Glasgow and in Paris under the most 
eminent experimenters of the day, was the first incumbent of the 
chair. 

An application for financial assistance, made by the Trustees 
to the Legislature in 1 796, resulted in a grant of eighteen hun- 



20 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

dred pounds with which to repair the College buildings, purchase 
new philosophical apparatus, and replenish the library. This 
appropriation was of course entirely inadequate for the purposes 
for which it was given. President Smith states that " the ap- 
paratus alone would require a thousand dollars more than they 
have been pleased to assign." In repairing the damages in- 
flicted upon the College during the war, however, the national 
government was even more negligent. In their appeal to the 
Legislature the Trustees set forth the following statement of the 
losses sustained by the Institution in "the Revolution : 

" Its former funds, to the amount of about ten thousand pounds, 
perished in the war that established our independence. Its build- 
ings were greatly injured, being alternately used as barracks and 
hospitals. Its Library and Philosophical apparatus were almost 
wholly destroyed." 

Congress, it is true, did make some compensation for the dam- 
age done to the College buildings while they were occupied in 
the service of the nation, but this compensation, made in a depre- 
ciated paper currency, was hardly sufficient for the necessary 
repair of the main edifice. This, it appears, is the extent of rep- 
aration made by either the state or federal governments for the 
damages which Princeton sustained in the Revolution. 

On the sixth of March, 1802, the interior of Nassau Hall was 
destroyed by fire together with almost the entire library and a 
part of the philosophical apparatus ; the walls, however, being of 
solid masonry were but little damaged. Measures were at once 
taken to raise funds wherewith to repair the loss. An elaborate 
address " To the Inhabitants of the United States " was prepared 
by the board and sent far and wide, and by the fourth of April, 
1 804, they were able to report that more than forty-four thousand 
dollars had been collected. The repairs upon the building were 
completed during the summer of that year. 



HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 21 

Dr. Smith, after an administration of more than seventeen 
years, resigned the presidency August 14, 18 12, and was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. Ashbel Green. President Smith was the 
first alumnus of the College to preside over its affairs. The Rev. 
Ashbel Green, also a graduate of the institution, took the oath 
of office May 14, 1813 ; his administration closed September 25, 
1822, at which time he tendered his resignation to the Trustees. 

In 181 7 occurred one of the most remarkable incidents in the 
history of the College. A number of students, about two o'clock 
on one wintry morning in January, locked the tutors in their 
rooms and set fire to the out-buildings in the College yard. This 
demonstration was accompanied by a great clanging upon the 
College bell and by a general uproar on the part of the stu- 
dents. A board of inquiry was promptly convened the next day 
and a number of undergraduates suspected of being more or less 
implicated in the riot were dismissed. These young gentlemen, 
however, believing that the Faculty had unjustly sentenced them 
without having adduced evidence proving their guilt, returned to 
the College building, stirred up a general insurrection and, tak- 
ing forcible possession of Old North, held it for a day against the 
combined forces of the Faculty and the town police. The next 
day the Faculty, being considerably reinforced by the civil author- 
ity, succeeded in quelling the disturbance. This event, which 
was known for many years as the "rebellion of 181 7," is the 
only instance of serious insubordination which has ever occurred 
at Princeton. 

Upon the resignation of President Green the Trustees elected 
to the presidency the Rev. Dr. John H. Rice, of Richmond, Vir- 
ginia. Dr. Rice, however, was compelled on account of ill health 
to decline the office and it was later unanimously tendered to the 
Rev. James Carnahan, of the class of 1800. Dr. Carnahan ac- 
cepted the election and was inaugurated upon the sixth of August, 



22 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

1823. His administration of thirty-one years was one of marked 
progress in the development of the College. During this period 
more than sixteen hundred students were graduated from the In- 
stitution ; the teaching corps was increased from two professors 
and two tutors in 1823, to six professors, two assistant professors, 
and four tutors in 1854, and not less than seventy-five thousand 
dollars was expended in the erection of new buildings, the pur- 
chase of apparatus and books, and in the improvement of the Col- 
lege grounds. 

A department of law was established in 1 846 under the direc- 
tion of the Hon. Joseph C. Hornblower, Chief Justice of the Su- 
preme Court of New Jersey, and James S. Green and Richard 
S. Field, attorneys. Unfortunately, there being no funds avail- 
able for the support of this department, the Trustees were com- 
pelled to discontinue the lectures in 1852. During this period 
the degree of Bachelor of Laws was conferred upon seven grad- 
uates. The building in which these law lectures were given was 
erected at the expense of Mr. Field. It is still standing on Mercer 
Street and is at present the home of the Ivy Hall Library. 

A centennial celebration of the founding of the College was 
planned for the 2 2d of October, 1846, the anniversary of the 
granting of the first charter, but the exercises were postponed 
until the 29th of June of the following year, this being the day 
of the one hundredth Commencement. The exercises were elab- 
orate and were attended by a distinguished company. The time 
of holding the annual Commencement had been changed in 1 844 
from the last Wednesday in September to the last Wednesday 
in June. At present the exercises take place on the Wednesday 
preceding the last Wednesday but one in June. 

President Carnahan resigned in 1853 and was succeeded by 
the Rev. John Maclean. Dr. Maclean was formally inaugurated 
on the 28th of June„ 1854, and at once entered upon the duties 



HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 23 

of his office. During the period of his administration, which 
continued until 1 868, the number of students increased from 247 
to 281. The Civil War, however, deprived the College of a 
large proportion of its students and is responsible for the small 
increase. Four new professorships, having a total endowment 
of ^195,000, were established and the teaching corps raised to 
twenty. The movement to establish free scholarships by endow- 
ment, begun during the last years of President Carnahan's admin- 
istration, was successful under Maclean in obtaining $60,000. 
The aggregate of the gifts received during President Maclean's 
term of office amounted to more than 1^430,000. 

On the night of March 10, 1855, the interior of Nassau Hall 
was destroyed by fire for the second time, the damage to the 
building, upon which there was an insurance of ;^ 12,000, amount- 
ing to above 1^50,000. With the exception of some clothing and 
books, belonging to several of the students, the contents of the 
building were saved. The work of rebuilding the Hall was com- 
pleted during the spring of i860. 

Upon the resignation of Dr. Maclean the Trustees elected to 
the presidency the Rev. James McCosh, Professor of Logic and 
Metaphysics in Queen's College, Belfast. Dr. McCosh was pub- 
licly inaugurated on the 27th of October, 1868 — just one hun- 
dred years after the day on which another Scotsman, John Wither- 
spoon, had come over to take the presidency. 

Under President McCosh the growth of the College received 
its first great impetus, and his administration opened a new era 
of prosperity at Princeton. During this period the number of 
students increased from 281 in 1868, to 603 in 1887. Gifts 
amounting to upwards of three millions of dollars were received 
by the Institution, of which one million was expended in the 
erection of fourteen buildings. Among the more important 
changes in the curriculum were the introduction of the system 



24 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

of elective studies (1870) ; the founding of the John C. Green 
School of Science (1873), offering courses leading to the degrees 
of Bachelor of Science and Civil Engineer ; and the establish- 
ment of the Graduate Department (1877). The Faculty was 
enlarged from ten professors and seven tutors in 1868, to thirty- 
one professors, four assistant professors, and five tutors and in- 
structors — a total of forty — in 1888. 

The spirit of President McCosh's administration is expressed 
in the following extract from his farewell address : 

" I said to myself and I said to others, ' We have a fine old 
college here, with many friends ; why should we not make it 
equal to any college in America, and, in the end, to any in 
Europe ? ' The friends of Princeton saw I was in earnest, and 
nobly did they encourage me." 

In carrying out his plans for the development of Princeton, he 
strove unceasingly and unselfishly in her interest, achieving a 
measure of success far beyond the hopes of his admirers and far 
beyond the achievements of any of his predecessors. It was 
President McCosh's ambition to build out of the material at 
Princeton a great university, and it should never be forgotten 
that, although the name university was not assumed until after 
his death, the university Hfe began in and because of his admin- 
istration. In touching upon this in his closing address. Presi- 
dent McCosh said, " the College has been brought to the very 
borders, and I leave it to another to carry it over into the land 
of promise." 

There is a striking parallel between the lives of two of Prince- 
ton's greatest administrators that cannot fail to impress all stu- 
dents of her history. " Rarely," writes Professor Andrew F. 
West, " has academic history repeated itself with such precision 
and emphasis as in the person of James McCosh, who, though 
unique in his own generation, had a real prototype in the person 




u 

u 



o 
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HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 2$ 

of one, though only one, of his predecessors, President John 
Witherspoon, the ruler of Princeton a century ago." Both were 
Lowland Scotchmen, Covenanters by descent, and both received 
their education at the University of Edinburgh. Both were 
ministers in the Church of Scotland at a crisis in its history, and 
both, when well advanced in years, came to America to preside 
over the affairs of Princeton, the one in 1 768 and the other in 1 868. 
Though eminent in different particulars, both bore the same 
stamp of character and independence, both were thoroughly pa- 
triotic, and in their guidance of the College both were actuated 
by the same principles of government. As a striking final co- 
incidence, both were removed by death in the same month and on 
almost the same day, but a century apart ; President Witherspoon 
dying November 15, 1794, and Dr. McCosh on November 16, 
1894.* 

Dr. McCosh retired from the presidency in 1888 and was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. Francis Landey Patton, D.D. President 
Patton was formally installed in office on the 20th of June of that 
year. During his administration of fourteen years the expansion 
and growth of the College, so successfully inaugurated under the 
direction of his predecessor, was most efficiently carried forward. 
In this period the student enrolment increased from 603 in 1888, 
to 1354 in 1902. At the time of President Patton's accession 
the Faculty numbered forty ; when he retired in 1902 the teach- 
ing corps had been increased to a total of one hundred. Through 
the Uberality of friends of the Institution its equipment and vested 
funds were augmented by gifts amounting to not less than three 
millions of dollars, a part of which was expended in the erection 
of seventeen new buildings. 

* In tracing this analogy between the lives of Witherspoon and McCosh, free 
use has been made of Professor West's sketch of the life of Dr. McCosh in De 
Witt's Princeton College Administrations in the Nineteenth Century. 



26 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

Upon the twenty-second of October, 1896, the one hundred 
and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the first charter, the cor- 
porate name of the Institution, formerly known as the College of 
New Jersey, was changed to Princeton University. The ceremo- 
nies which marked the celebration of this sesquicentennial an- 
niversary are notable in the annals of Princeton and are yet 
fresh within the memory of her sons. On the third day of the 
celebration President Patton made the announcement of the 
University title in the following words : 

" There was another circumstance by which we thought it would 
be wise to mark the significance of this day. Thanks to the lib- 
eral provisions of the charter of the College of New Jersey, this 
institution from its beginning has been fully empowered to do 
university work in all its spheres, and we have had occasion to 
make no change whatever in the charter of the College of New 
Jersey in order that we might change its corporate name. It has 
been thought best to change the corporate name of the Col- 
lege of New Jersey, partly in order that the name of the institu- 
tion might more fittingly correspond to the work that it has been 
doing for so many years, and partly, also, that the new name 
might serve as an inspiration for new effort, and mark a new 
departure in the direction of higher and more extended work 
in the great realm of pure culture, as that realm divides itself 
into the three great kingdoms of philosophy, science, and litera- 
ture. 

" And so it is my pleasure, for expression of which I have no 
equivalent in words, to say that the wishes of the alumni in this 
respect have at last been fully realized ; to say that the faculty, 
trustees, and alumni stand together, and, as with the voice of one 
man, give their hearty approval to the change that has taken 
place. 

" It is my great pleasure to say that from this moment what 




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HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 2/ 

heretofore for one hundred and fifty years has been known as 
the College of New Jersey shall in all future time be known as 
Princeton University." 

A change of scarcely less moment to the students themselves, 
and one significant of a new order of things in undergraduate 
life, had preceded the events of the Sesquicentennial. This was 
the establishment of the honor system, first put into effect at the 
mid-year examinations in February, 1893. The old system of 
espionage was strongly condemned by the undergraduates who 
almost unanimously desired that the method of placing men upon 
their honor during examinations, so successfully practised in some 
of the southern colleges, should be given a trial. To this the 
authorities of the University cordially agreed and the following 
resolutions were put in force : 

" Whereas, it appears that there has been a strong and growing student senti- 
ment against the practise of cheating in examinations, and further, that the students 
desire to have the examinations so conducted as to be put upon their honor as 
gentlemen, 

" Resolved, that until further notice is given to the contrary, there shall be no su- 
pervision of examinations, each student simply, at the end of his paper, subscribing 
the following declaration : ' I pledge my honor as a gentleman that, during this ex- 
amination, I have neither given nor received assistance. ' " 

Since that day there has never been a doubt here at Princeton 
of the success of the honor system. There have been but few 
instances of violation of the honor pledge and such cases, usually 
confined to the newest members of the University family, the 
Freshmen, have been very summarily dealt with by the Student 
Committee, before whom they have been given a fair trial, and 
if found guilty have been forced to leave the University. With 
the students themselves rests the responsibility of maintaining 
the integrity of the honor system and it is needless to say that 
its interests are very jealously guarded. " Princeton has always 



28 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

stood for honor," they say, " and men without honor should not 
be allowed a place among us." * 

President Patton resigned on the ninth of June, 1902, and 
Professor Woodrow Wilson was chosen his successor and in- 
augurated on the twenty-fifth of October of the same year. 
President Wilson is the first layman to administer the affairs 
of the Institution and is one of her most gifted sons. He 
was graduated from Princeton with the class of 1879, ^^^ 
a few years later received his instruction in law at the Uni- 
versity of his native state, Virginia. In 1883 he entered 
Johns Hopkins University as a Fellow in History. Here was 
finished the final draft of his first book, '" Congressional Govern- 
ment," which after nearly twenty years remains the standard 
authority on the subject. This work served also as the thesis 
on which the University granted him his doctorate of philosophy 
in 1886. "The State," which followed in 1889, is the best 
known of President Wilson's writings on constitutional govern- 
ment. In 1 890 he was called to the chair of Jurisprudence and 
Politics at Princeton, where the size of his elective classes and 
the interest with which he has infused his pupils have borne 
tribute to his success as a teacher. 

President Wilson's attainments have well fitted him for the 
great task in hand, a thorough reorganization of the curriculum, 
and already complexity is giving place to coherence in the 
newly arranged scheme of study. President Wilson has declared 
his belief in the duty of the University to require of the under- 
graduate a systematic, rather than miscellaneous, choice of 
studies, at the same time that it gives him a very liberal choice 
of departments of study. He also believes that the student 
body should make a business of study, and that the discipline of 
the Institution should impartially require it in order that her re- 

* From an editorial in TAe Daily Princeionian, February 20, 1893. 



HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 29 

sponsibility in loco parentis should not be abused. He holds 
that the general foundations of sound learning have been too 
much neglected in seeking its specialized forms ; that the 
university " is not the place in which to teach men their specific 
tasks, except their tasks be those of scholarship and investiga- 
tion ; it is the place in which to teach them the relations which all 
tasks bear to the work of the world .... This is why I believe 
general training, with no particular occupation in view, to be the 
very heart and essence of university training, and the indispen- 
sable foundation of every special development of knowledge or 
of aptitude that is to lift a man to his profession or a scholar to 
his function of investigation."* 

The revision of the curriculum, in progress during the past 
year, has strengthened the courses leading to the Bachelor's 
degree in the Arts, and a new course, leading to the degree of 
Bachelor of Letters, has been established. There will be no 
shortening of the four years' cycle of study here at Princeton, for 
the old ideals are held to be of greater value than the passing 
tendencies of the period to forsake well trodden paths for a 
royal road to knowledge. 



We have glanced but briefly over the past of the old College 
and yet we have seen upon what a broad and liberal foundation 
she was conceived ; how even her founders, their vision not 
obscured by the narrowness of a day, planned their Httle college 
upon the broad basis of a studium generate, wherein the youth 
" of every religious denomination, any different Sentiments in 
Religion notwithstanding," might receive instruction "in the 
learned Languages, and in the liberal Arts and Sciences." We 

* President Wilson's inaugural address. 



30 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

have seen her increase in numbers, under the guidance of able 
administrators, and have noted the character of the men she 
has sent upon the public stage. We have witnessed, too, the 
broadening and strengthening of the curriculum and its develop- 
ment along the Unes of science and investigation. We have 
seen how generously in the past the growing needs of the Institu- 
tion have been met by gifts of buildings and by valuable endow- 
ments, and we look forward to the future with unhesitating 
confidence and enthusiasm. 

Brilliant as has been Princeton's past, there lies before her 
a still more brilliant future. Of this there can be no doubt. 
Her alumni, proverbially loyal, are undivided in their support. 
Her administrators are men of purpose and out of the magnifi- 
cent materials at hand they will build a great university, strong 
in the old ideals, but fashioned in the light of modern thought. 



GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 




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GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 

In the beginning the College of New Jersey owned neither 
grounds nor buildings but held its exercises in the house of the 
president or in convenient rooms. The first grounds of the 
College were the " two Hundred Acres of Woodland, and that 
ten Acres of clear'd Land" donated by the inhabitants of Prince- 
ton ; a part of which, the gift of Nathaniel Fitz Randolph, became 
the site of Nassau Hall and was called by President Wither- 
spoon the " campus," — a term which he appears to have been 
the first to apply in its present accepted meaning. Since that 
day when the campus was but a few acres along the main street 
of the village, the grounds of the Institution have grown steadily 
with its resources until at the present time their total area in- 
cludes some two hundred and twenty-five acres, enclosing more 
than thirty buildings. 

These buildings have not been designed or placed in accord- 
ance with one original plan but have been added from time to' 
time as the development and needs of the University progressed. 
Of late years much consideration has been given to the archi- 
tectural harmony of the campus with the result that the col- 
legiate or Tudor Gothic of the English universities has been 
adopted in the more recent buildings. Examples of this style 
are the Blair and Little dormitories and the Gymnasium, the 

c 33 



34 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

University Library, and the new Seventy-Nine Hall. The 
campus of Princeton is one of broad reaches and gentle slopes 
in which the buildings are widely spaced rather than massed in 
closed quadrangles. It has been fittingly called an academic 
park and those who love the place may well feel proud of its 
fine lawns and beautiful trees. 

One of the chief features of a visit to Princeton is a walk 
through the University grounds with a glance at the buildings 
and their interesting histories. Surmising that this is the de- 
sire of the visitor the following tour has been prepared. Perhaps 
the most convenient starting point for such a tour is at the upper 
entrance to the front campus on Nassau Street, where on the 
right, as the visitor enters the grounds, stands the 

Old President's House, now the residence of the Dean of 
the Faculty. This house, contemporaneous with Nassau Hall, 
was built in 1756 and was designed as a dwelling for the pres- 
idents of the college ; this it continued to be until 1879, when 
Prospect was acquired by the Trustees. In front of the house, 
near the street, stand two old sycamores planted, tradition says, 
in 1765 by order of the Trustees to commemorate colonial 
resistance to the Stamp Act. Passing along the walk leading 
diagonally across the campus, the visitor is brought to the 
entrance of 

Nassau Hall, the oldest and, because of its historical associa- 
tions, the most interesting of the University buildings. 

Historical. Nassau Hall was built in 1756 from plans drawn 
by Dr. Shippen and Robert Smith of Philadelphia. When com- 
pleted it was the handsomest and most commodious academic struc- 
ture in the colonies. In its three stories and basement it contained 
some sixty rooms, which included a refectory, library, and recita- 
tion rooms, and accommodated about one hundred and fifty stu- 
dents. In " An Account of the College," published by the 




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GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 35 

Trustees in 1764, occurs the following interesting and quaintly 
worded description of the building : 

** The edifice being nearly finished, and considered as sacred 
to liberty and revolution-principles, was denominated Nassau- 
Hall, from that great deliverer of Britain, and assertor of 
protestant liberty, K. William the Illd, prince of Orange and 
Nassau. It will accommodate about 147 students, computing 
three to a chamber. These are 20 feet square, having two large 
closets, with a window in each, for retirement. It has also an 
elegant hall, of genteel workmanship, being a square of near 40 
feet, with a neatly finished front gallery. Here is a small, tho' 
exceeding good organ, which was obtained by a voluntary sub- 
scription : Opposite to which, and of the same height, is erected 
a stage, for the use of the students, in their public exhibitions. 
It is also ornamented, on one side, with a portrait of his late 
majesty, at full length ; and, on the other, with a like picture, 
(and above it the family-arms neatly carved and gilt,) of his ex- 
cellency governor Belcher. These were bequeathed by the 
latter to this college. The library, which is on the second floor, 
is a spacious room, furnished at present with about 1 200 volumes, 
all which have been the gifts of the patrons and friends of the 
institution, both in Europe and America. There is, on the lower 
story, a commodious dining hall, large enough to accommodate 
as many as the house will contain, together with a large kitchen, 
steward's apartments, &c. The whole structure, which is of 
durable stone, having a neat cupola on its top, makes a handsome 
appearance ; and is esteemed to be the most conveniently plan'd 
for the purposes of a college, of any in North-America ; being 
designed and executed by that approved architect Mr. Robert 
Smithy of Philadelphia" 

Here dwelt the students in comfort, if not in luxury, and, ac- 
cording to the same authority, " always under the inspection of 



7,6 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

the college officers, more sequestered from the various tempta- 
tions, attending a promiscuous converse with the world, that 
theatre of folly and dissipation." The building of Nassau Hall 
attracted much attention and brought not a few visitors to 
Princeton. Among these was President Ezra Stiles of Yale 
College, who stopped to view the foundations, while on his way 
to Philadelphia in 1754, and was so much impressed that he 
made three drawings of the " Plan of N. Jersey College " in his 
diary, noting the exact measurements. 

The old Hall has suffered much in its long life. During the 
Revolution both armies used it as a barracks, completely wreck- 
ing the interior and destroying valuable property. In 1802 the 
first of two disastrous fires swept through the building, destroy- 
ing the entire library, with the exception of a few volumes, and 
some of the philosophical apparatus. Again in 1855 fire dam- 
aged the interior, causing a heavy loss in property. In both 
instances, however, the walls, being of solid construction, success- 
fully withstood the flames without suffering disfigurement. Dur- 
ing one of the student disorders, which preceded the " rebellion 
of 18 17," previously alluded to in the historical sketch of the 
University, an attempt was made to wreck the building by ex- 
ploding a sort of •' infernal machine " in one of the entries. 
This bomb, the invention of some disaffected students, was made 
by enclosing several pounds of powder in a hollow log and was 
set off by a slow match, with the result that the adjacent walls 
were cracked from top to bottom. A number of the offenders 
were apprehended and dismissed, one of them being indicted 
by the grand jury and heavily fined. 

From the twenty-sixth of June until the fourth of November, 
1783, Nassau Hall was the national capitol. Within its walls, 
in the closing hour of the Revolution, the Congress of the nation 
found a safe retreat, and for more than four months held quiet 



GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 37 

session in the spacious library room, remote from the mutinous 
troops at Philadelphia. Here was received, with much pomp 
and ceremony, his Excellency Pieter J. Van Berckel, Minister 
Plenipotentiary from the States General of Holland, the first 
ambassador accredited to America since the peace ; and here 
the grateful acknowledgments of Congress were tendered Wash- 
ington for his services in establishing the freedom and inde- 
pendence of the United States. 

While the Congress sat at Princeton Washington was a fre- 
quent visitor, coming from Newburgh to confer on matters of 
state. Later, his presence being indispensable, a house was pro- 
vided for him at Rocky Hill, a village near Princeton, where he 
established his headquarters. In this house the Commander in 
Chief penned his touching farewell address to the armies of the 
United States. In later years came another personage of al- 
most equal note, the Marquis Lafayette, who visited Princeton 
in 1824 and received from President Carnahan the diploma of 
Doctor of Laws, which degree had been conferred upon him by 
the College in 1790. 

Though many of the uses for which Nassau Hall was designed 
have been abandoned, principally through the provision of new 
and separate buildings, some of the old traditions of the place 
still cling to it. On its steps, in the warm spring evenings, the 
custom of Senior singing is still kept up ; here, too, they gather 
for their last class photograph ; and from the old belfry at nine 
o'clock the curfew still rings out, vainly sounding the hour of rest. 

Descriptive. Nassau Hall is but little changed in appearance, 
though one hundred and fifty years have passed since its corner- 
stone was laid. Originally there were three entrances at the 
front of the building ; of these the central one alone remains at 
the present day. Two stairways were built at the ends of the 
main structure after the fire of 1855 ; at the same time the old 



38 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

chapel room, now the main hall of the museum, was enlarged to 
its present dimensions. The interior has also been remodelled 
to some extent with a view to making the Hall more nearly fire 
proof. In the course of these alterations the library room, where 
Congress met, was cut away by raising the ceiling of the main 
hallway, or vestibule, which at present occupies two stories. 
From the steps two bronze lions, the gift of the class of 1879, 
keep watch over the building, and upon each side of the entrance 
friends of the Institution have placed tablets commemorative of 
its history.* 

The central and eastern wings of Nassau Hall now contain the 
collections of the E. M. Museum of Geology and Archaeology, 
which are distributed in the three general departments of geology, 
paleontology, and archaeology, their arrangement being espe- 
cially adapted to the purposes of comparative study. These col- 
lections are open to the visitor throughout the year between the 
hours of 9 a. m. and 5 p. m. daily, Sundays excepted. The remain- 
ing part of the building is occupied by the histological laboratory 
and the laboratory of experimental psychology, and by the depart- 
ment library of geology and paleontology, and the geological lec- 
ture rooms. 

In the little room upon the right of the main entrance is the 
relief model of the grounds and buildings of the Institution, made 
in 1892 for the Princeton exhibit at the World's Columbian Ex- 
position. Here, too, is a very interesting collection of electrical 
apparatus used by Joseph Henry, the inventor of the principle 
upon which the magnetic telegraph is based, f later Professor of 

* The tablet on the left was erected by the Synod of New Jersey in 1902; the 
one on the right by the Sons of the American Revolution in New Jersey, in 1896. 

t Much has been written concerning the origin of the magnetic telegraph and 
the identity of its inventor, but it has been conclusively shown that Joseph Henry, 
in the year 1831, constructed the first electro-magnetic telegraph and transmitted 
signals through a wire of more than a mile in length. Morse, utilizing the princi- 







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GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 39 

Natural Philosophy at Princeton, together with some earUer in- 
struments imported by John Maclean, Professor of Chemistry 
and Natural Philosophy, about the year 1 800. Maclean, a young 
Scotchman who came to this country fresh from the schools of 
Glasgow and Paris, was probably the first regularly appointed 
professor of chemistry in America. There are also in the col- 
lection two of the " electrical machines " used by Benjamin 
Franklin in his experiments, and the giant magnet made by 
Henry, which has sustained a weight of 3,500 pounds. 

Passing again into the main corridor the visitor is confronted 
by a wooden image, or " totem," which once surmounted an 
enormous " totem-pole " of the Alaskan Indians. This image and 
several lesser ones, with the cumbersome wooden cart-wheel, a 
part of the same group, belong to the valuable collection of Indian 
relics presented by Dr. Sheldon Jackson to the Princeton Theo- 
logical Seminary and transferred by the trustees of that Institu- 
tion to the University museum. 

On the walls of the corridor leading into the main hall of the 
museum are some trophies of the late war with Spain, presented 
by Mr. Louis Vanuxem, of the class of 1879, and others. Over 
the doorway, facing the entrance to the building, is the bronze 
tablet in memory of Elias Boudinot, a trustee of the College and 
President of Congress during its sessions at Princeton, presented 
to the University by members of the Boudinot family. 

pies discovered by Henry, perfected the instrument and adapted it to the trans- 
mission of messages by the use of the alphabet system of dots and dashes of which 
he was the inventor. Henry came to Princeton in 1832 to accept the chair of Nat- 
ural Philosophy ; here he remained until called to Washington in 1846 to become 
the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. While in Princeton Henry 
continued his investigations in electro-magnetism, and constructed a number of 
wires about the College grounds through which signals were successfully sent. The 
original instrument by means of which these signals were transmitted may be 
seen in the case on the left of the doorway. 



40 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

Entering the main hall the visitor will find in the cases 
(i, 2, 3, 4,) just in front of the doorway, an interesting collec- 
tion representing the development of edged instruments from 
the advent of man to the present day. Many of the implements, 
reUcs of the ancient lake-dwellers of Switzerland, are of great 
value. Geologists and archaeologists have never been able to 
agree upon even an approximate date for these early evidences 
of man, and have variously computed their age at from five to 
twenty thousand years. Perhaps the most interesting object in 
this collection is an ancient razor (3), curiously wrought from 
bronze. There are, besides, beautifully fashioned bronze arrow- 
heads, daggers, and knives, and various other implements of 
war and of peace. On the left of these cases may be seen a 
model (20) of one of these prehistoric lake-dwellings, by Pro- 
fessor Keller of Zurich. The articles which have been discov- 
ered probably fell through the rough flooring and have lain for 
ages buried in deposits at the bottom of the lake. 

Turning once more to the right the visitor will see the mummy 
of the High Priest of Heliopolis, in the time of Rameses II, 
lying in state in its mummy case (5). This Rameses, the 
Pharaoh who oppressed the Israelites and one of the greatest of 
the Egyptian princes, reigned about 1500 years before the time 
of Christ, which proves this mummy to be some 3400 years of 
age. The small room (30), known as the Swiss Room, at the 
right of the hall, contains a series of erratic rock specimens 
from the Central Alps, collected by Professor Guyot, and in- 
tended to show the extent of the Alpine glaciers during the Ice 
Age. 

Passing down the aisle on the right, the visitor will find in the 
alcove cases along the wall (7-12) ethnological collections from 
the South Sea Islands, Alaska, New Mexico, and Arizona. In 
the centre of the hall are several reproductions of prehistoric an- 




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GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 4I 

imals, copies of the original skeletons in the British Museum, 
the museum at Dijon, France, and in other collections. The 
huge reptile (26), Hadrosauriis Foiilkii, which faces the visitor 
from the head of the raised platform, is modelled from fossil re- 
mains discovered at Haddonfield, New Jersey. Next to it is the 
restoration of a giant turtle (27) which once roamed through 
what are now the Sewalik Hills of India. The Glyptodon (28), 
which in general form resembles the armadillos of the present 
day, lived at a much later period than his neighbors, an age 
(Pleistocene) which geologists tell us just preceded the advent 
of man. Some of the species' attained an immense size, so large 
in fact that the native tribes of South America, we are told, use 
their fossil remains for huts. The Megatherium (29), an im- 
mense herbivorous animal, also of the Pleistocene Age, is the 
prototype of the present sloth. This creature, a denizen of the 
great primeval forests of South America, fed upon the foliage of 
trees which it uprooted by its great strength, and though its 
habits were peaceful, it must have proved a powerful antagonist 
if attacked. No other fossil so far surpasses its modern repre- 
sentative in size as does the Megatherium, for the largest living 
sloth hardly exceeds two feet in length. Restorations of these 
animals may be seen in the series of pictures, typical of the great 
geological ages, around the front of the gallery. 

The cases in the centre of the room (22-25), running along 
the sides of the raised platform, contain numerous implements 
and ornaments in silver and beadwork of the Indians of the 
northwest coast of North America, forming a part of the col- 
lection made by the museum among the Yakutats of Alaska 
(23) ; the collection of the Peary Auxiliary Expedition of 1894, 
illustrating the life and customs of the Northern Eskimos (25) ; 
and some of the more valuable and interesting discoveries from 
the Swiss lake excavations (25). A series of models of the 



42 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

cliff-dwellings and pueblos of the southwest will also be found in 
alcoves (9, 1 1, 14, 15, 17) on each side of the room. 

The large case at the end of the hall contains an interesting 
collection of war implements, clothing, and baskets, from the 
savage races of many lands. The collection of pottery from 
New Mexico and Arizona ( 1 2), in the alcove at the right of this 
case, is an exceptionally fine one. 

The alcove cases (14-19) on the opposite side of the room 
contain casts from the Smithsonian collection of Peruvian an- 
tiquities (14, 15), relics from the lake excavations of Switzer- 
land (16, 18), and ethnological collections from the caves of 
France, the dwellings of primeval man (19). One of the most 
interesting objects in the case (25) along the raised platform is 
an ancient bronze knife and the stone mold in which it was cast, 
from the Swiss lake-dwellings. In the central alcove (16) 
against the wall may be seen a number of barbed bronze fish- 
hooks, bearing such a strong resemblance to those of the present 
day that it is hard to believe that they are thousands of years 
old. 

Ascending to the gallery by the stairway at the left of the 
main entrance as you face the doorway, the visitor will find in 
the cases along the railing the large collection of minerals be- 
queathed to the University by the late Archibald MacMartin of 
New York. The perfection of the specimens, which number 
about 2,600, and the number of localities represented in each 
family, make this collection one of special value. The cases 
next to the wall contain the beginning of the paleontological col- 
lections, continued in the eastern wing of the building. Here 
are many type specimens ; among others are the original slabs 
from which Professor Hugh Miller wrote his treatise on the 
fossil fishes of the old red sandstone. 

From this gallery may be had the best view of the collection 






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GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 43 

of portraits which occupies the front and adjacent walls of the 
room. A detailed description, with numbered references to the 
wall chart, follows : 

1. Matthew Boyd Hope, M. D., D. D. Professor of Rhetoric and Civil 

Polity, 1 846-1859. 

2. Luther Halsey, D. D. Professor of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, 

and Natural History, 1824-1829. 

3. Albert Baldwin Dod, D. D., class of 1822. Professor of Mathematics, 

1830-1845. 

4. John Bayard, Trustee, 1778-1807. Member of Continental Congress. 

5. George Musgrave Giger, D. D., class of 1841. From 1846, Adjunct 

Professor of Mathematics ; from 1847, of Greek ; from 1854, Pro- 
fessor of Latin Language and Literature ; from 1864-65, Emeritus. 

6. John Woodhull, D. D., class of 1766. Trustee, 1780-1824. 

7. Lyman Hotchkiss Atwater, D. D., LL. D. From 1854, Professor of 

Metaphysics and Moral Philosophy; from 1869-1883, of Logic and 
Moral and Political Science. 

8. Samuel Finley, D. D. President, 1761-1766. 

9. Samuel Da vies, A. M. President, 1759-1761. 

10. Aaron Burr, A. M. President, 1748-1757. 

11. Jonathan Dickinson, A. M. First President, 1746-1747. 

12. Henry Kollock, D. D., class of 1794. Professor of Theology, 1803- 

1806. 

13. Walter Minto, LL. D. Professor of Mathematics and Natural Phil- 

osophy, I 787- I 796. 

14. Gilbert Tennent, A. M. Trustee, 1746-1764. 

15. David Hosack, M. D., LL. D., class of 1789. Distinguished physician. 

16. George Washington Musgrave, D. D., LL. D. Trustee, 1859-1882. 

17. Charles Ewing, LL. D., class of 1798. Trustee, 1820-1832. 

18. William Wirt Phillips, D. D. Trustee, 1829-1865. Portrait by 

Edward Mooney. 

19. Theodore Frelinghuysen, LL. D., class of 1804. Attorney General 

of New Jersey; U. S. Senator; Chancellor of Union College, New 
York ; and President of Rutgers College, New Jersey. 

20. George Spafford Woodhull, A. M., class of 1790. Trustee, 1807- 

1834 ; also Secretary of the Board. 



44 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

21. John Rodgers, D. D. Trustee, 1765-1807. 

22. Jonathan Edwards, A. M. President, 1757-1758. 

23. William Paterson, LL. D., class of 1763. Trustee, 1 787-1802. Mem- 

ber of the Continental Congress ; U. S. Senator ; Attorney General 
and Governor of New Jersey; Judge of U. S. Supreme Court. 

24. Jonathan Belcher, A. M. Governor of New Jersey and cx-officio 

President of Board of Trustees, 1748-1757. This picture, a copy 
of the portrait of Governor Belcher in the gallery of the Boston 
Athenaeum, was presented by Professor George M. Giger. 

25. George Washington. Painted from life by Charles Wilson Peale in 

1784 at the request of the Trustees of the College, and ordered by 
them to be hung in the frame of " the picture of the late King of 
Great Britain, which was torn away by a ball from the American 
artillery in the battle of Princeton." The present frame is undoubt- 
edly the same one that contained the portrait of King George the 
Second, presented to the College by Governor Belcher, and alluded 
to in the above minute of the Trustees. In the background of the 
painting is a representation of the battle of Princeton, showing 
Nassau Hall in the distance. The wounded officer is General Mer- 
cer, who is supported by a surgeon, while close by is another officer 
bearing the American flag. 

26. William Pennington, A. M., class of 1S13. Trustee, 1848- 1862. Gov- 

ernor and Chancellor of New Jersey ; Member of Congress ; Speaker 
of the House of Representatives. 

27. Daniel Haines, A. M., class of 1820. Trustee, 1S45-1S48. Governor 

and Chancellor of New Jersey ; Judge of Supreme Court of New 
Jersey. 

28. Charles Smith Olden. Treasurer, 1845-1869; Trustee, 1863-1875; 

Governor of New Jersey. 

29. Isaac Halsted Williamson, LL. D. Governor of New Jersey and 

ex-officio President of Board of Trustees, 1817-1829. 

30. Charles Augustus Young, Ph. D., LL. D. From 1877 Professor of 

Astronomy. Portrait by Henry Plarrison. 

31. Joseph Henry, LL. D. Professor of Natural Philosophy, 1S32-1S48; 

Trustee, 1S64-1S78; First Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 

32. Stephen Alexander, LL. D. Adjunct Professor of Mathematics, 1834 

-1840; Professor of Astronomy, 1840-1877 ; Emeritus, 1877-1883. 

33. Arnold Guyot, Ph. D., LL. D. Professor of Geology and Physical 

Geography, 18 54- 1884. 



GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVP:RSITY 45 

34. Henry Lee, A. M., class of 1773. Governor of Virginia; Delegate Con- 

tinental Congress ; Member of Congress. From the original portrait 
by Gilbert Stuart. 

35. Samuel Woodruff, Trustee, 1 749-1 768. From the original portrait 

by Benjamin West. 

36. Samuel Lkwls Southard, LL. D., class of 1804. Trustee, 1822-1842; 

Governor, Attorney General, and Chancellor of New Jersey; Secre- 
tary of the Navy ; U. S. Senator and President of Senate. 

37. George Duffield, D. D., class of 1752. Trustee, 1777-1790. 

38. Richard Stockton, A. M., class of 1748. Trustee, 1757-1781. Judge 

Supreme Court of New Jersey ; Delegate Continental Congress and 
Signer of the Declaration of Independence. 

39. Andrew Kirkpatrick, A. M., class of 1775. Trustee, 1807-1831. 

Chief Justice Supreme Court of New Jersey. 

40. Robert Lenox. Trustee, 1813-1839. 

41. David Magie, D. D., class of 1817. Trustee, 1835-1865. Portrait by 

Edward Mooney. 

42. John Inslev Blair. Trustee, 1866-1899. Portrait by A. L. Wood- 

ward. 

43. James McCosh, D. D., LL. D., L. H. D. President, 1868-1888. 

44. John Witherspoon, D. D., LL. D. President, 1768-1794; Delegate 

Continental Congress ; Signer of the Declaration of Independence. 

45. James Carnahan, D. D., LL. D., class of 1800. President, 1823-1854. 

46. AsHBEL Green, D. D., LL. D., class of 1783. President, 1812-1822. 

47. Samuel Stanhope Smith, D. D., LL. D., class of 1769. Treasurer, 

1783-1786; Vice President, 1789-1795; President, 1795-1812. 

48. John Maclean, D. D., LL. D., class of 1816. Professor of Mathematics, 

1823-1829; of Languages, 1829-1830; of Ancient Languages and 
Literature, 1830-1847; of Greek Language and Literature, 1847- 
1854; Vice President, 1829-1854; President, 1854-1868. Portrait 
by Edward Mooney. 

Passing around the gallery the visitor will come to the en- 
trance to the upper or eastern hall of the museum. Here are 
the main collections of the department of paleontology. On the 
platform in the centre of the room are the skeletons of a Masto- 
don from the United States, an Irish Deer from the peat bogs 



46 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

of Limerick, a Cave Bear from France, and some of the extinct 
birds of New Zealand. Here also is a very perfect skeleton of 
Cervalces, an intermediate between the elk and the moose, which 
is undoubtedly the most valuable specimen in the museum. The 
bones of this animal were discovered at Mt. Hermon, Warren 
County, New York, and were presented by the Rev. A. A. 
Haines. 

The small case in front of the central platform contains a 
Valuable collection of fossil leaves from Florisant, Colorado, many 
of which are type specimens and form the basis from which Pro- 
fessor Lesquereux wrote his memoir on the fossil botany of 
America. The larger upright case, immediately on the right, 
contains the remaining part of this collection. 

On the left of the doorway, resting on the floor, is a very 
beautiful leaf of a fossil palm from western Wyoming. This leaf 
proves the existence of a tropical climate there during the early 
ages, a fact that is further shown by the discovery of the remains 
of crocodiles in the same region. 

On the walls at this end of the room are slabs containing the 
original bones of the prehistoric Icthyosaurus and Teleosaurus. 
The cases along the walls contain a fine series of vertebrate and 
invertebrate fossils from Europe and America, illustrating the 
principal organic forms of all the geological epochs ; those on the 
left containing an especially fine collection of coal plants, many 
of which are type specimens of great value. At the rear of the 
room are a number of slabs exhibiting the footprints of prehis- 
toric animals, once thought to have been made by great birds, 
but now generally believed to be the tracks of reptiles. 

In the gallery may be found a further exhibit of fossils, many 
of which are fine type specimens procured in the west by the 
various Princeton expeditions ; here, too, is an interesting series 
of Indian photographs forming a part of the Sheldon Jackson 




to 



o 

.-J 



GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 4/ 

collection. In the small case at the head of the stairs is an ex- 
hibit of uncut gems belonging to the MacMartin collection of 
minerals. The specimens include a diamond from the Kimberley 
mines of South Africa, topaz, emeralds, rose quartz, and other 
precious stones. Descending the stairway at the head of this 
room, which leads to the main entrance corridor, the visitor 
will find near the western end of Nassau Hall, and on the left 
as he leaves the Hall, the 

University Offices. This building was erected in 1803 and 
was originally designed as a recitation hall for the Freshmen 
and Sophomore classes, with rooms for "the handsome exhibi- 
tion of the Library of the College " and for the accommodation 
of the two literary societies, the American Whig and the Clio- 
sophic. Later it was known as Geological Hall and for a time 
contained the geological cabinet and lecture rooms. At present 
it is the executive headquarters of the University and contains 
the offices of the Treasurer, the Registrar, and the Curator of 
Grounds and Buildings. Here also is the meeting room of 
the Faculty. Another building, of like appearance and occupy- 
ing a similar position at the opposite or eastern end of Nassau 
Hall, was erected in the same year to serve as a refectory, with 
rooms also for the philosophical apparatus and the astronomical 
observatory. This structure, known as Philosophical Hall, was 
removed to make room for the Chancellor Green Library, erected 
in 1872. The dormitory south of the University Offices is 

Reunion Hall, built in 1870 on the site of Professor Joseph 
Henry's residence, and so named to commemorate the reunion 
of the Old and New Schools of the Presbyterian Church. Mem- 
bers of each party donated the funds by which it was built and 
its cornerstone was laid by the General Assembly. It is a five- 
story structure built of stone with brick trimmings and contains 
fifty-four suites, accommodating eighty persons. Next to Re- 
union Hall is 



48 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

West College, which is the oldest building used as a dormi- 
tory now standing. The growth of the Institution led the 
Trustees in 1833 to erect a new building for the accommodation 
of the students ; this they named East College from its position 
in relation to the main edifice. Three years later another dormi- 
tory was built, known as West College, occupying a similar posi- 
tion on the western side of what was then the " back cam- 
pus," so called to distinguish it from the " front campus" lying 
between Nassau Hall and the main street. East College was 
torn down in 1 896 to make room for the new University Library. 
There are forty suites of rooms in West College which accom- 
modate eighty occupants. Turning here and passing down the 
walk leading between West and Reunion the visitor will see on 
the right 

Alexander Hall, a handsome structure of brownstone and 
granite built in the Romanesque style of western France. This 
building, the gift of Mrs. Charles B. Alexander, was erected in 
1893 at a cost exceeding ^350,000. It is used for Commence- 
ment and Class Day exercises, public lectures, and other Uni- 
versity gatherings of a general character. As an auditorium it is 
admirably arranged allowing an audience of fifteen hundred to be 
comparatively near the rostrum. On the southern front of the 
building is a fine rose window. Beneath this window is a seated 
figure of learning, on the left of which are allegorical figures of 
architecture, sculpture, painting, poetry, music and belles lettres ; 
and on the right, oratory, theology, history, philosophy, and ethics. 
There are other sculptures about the rose window and in the 
niches around the ambulatory. These decorations were executed 
by Mr. J. Massey Rhind, under the direction of the architect, 
Mr. William A. Potter. From the wide ambulatory which en- 
circles the building the visitor may obtain a view of the interior. 
The rostrum and President's chair are finished in colored marbles 



GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 49 

and polychromatic mosaic. Behind the rostrum is a scries of ex- 
quisite mosaic wall pictures, designed by J. A. Holzer, illustrative 
of the Homeric story. A large organ, built by George Jardine, 
stands in one of the small galleries near the platform. West of 
Alexander Hall is the 

Old Gymnasium, erected in 1 869 through the liberality of 
Mr. Robert Bonner and Mr. Henry G. Marquand. Since the 
recent opening of the new Gymnasium, generously provided by 
the alumni, this building is no longer used for the purposes for 
which it was designed. Beyond it is the 

Halsted Observatory, the gift of General N. Norris Halsted. 
Here is mounted the great equatorial telescope, having an aper- 
ture of twenty-three inches and a focal length of thirty feet, made 
by the Clarks and provided with the usual accessory instruments. 
This observatory is devoted to scientific research, chiefly in the de- 
partment of astronomical physics ; at present the principal work is 
the photometric observation of variable stars, under a grant from 
the Carnegie Institution. In constructing the Observatory great 
care was taken to eliminate as far as possible the troublesome 
factor of vibration. The telescope is mounted equatorially on a 
pyramidal shaft of granite, which rests on solid foundations of 
masonry extending to bed rock twenty-five feet below the surface 
of the ground. The building was completed in 1872 at a cost of 
^60,000 and ten years later the telescope and its accessory in- 
struments, representing a further outlay of $32,000 generously 
provided by subscription, were installed. During Commencement 
week the Observatory is opened to the public and visitors are 
given an opportunity of looking through the big glass. North of 
the Observatory, at the comer of Nassau Street and University 
Place, stands ^ 

University Hall, originally planned as a hotel but now used 
as a dormitory, its revenues going to the support of the E. M. 

D 



50 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

Museum. It contains eighty suites, accommodating one hundred 
and sixty persons, and cost j^ 100,000. On the left, across the 
campus from the Old Gymnasium, is 

Blair Hall, the first representative of the collegiate Gothic 
style of architecture adopted in the more recent Princeton build- 
ings. This handsome dormitory costing $150,000, a Sesquicen- 
tenhial gift from the late John I. Blair, is built of white German- 
town stone and forms, with the Little Hall and the new Gymnasium 
architecturally combined with it, an almost unbroken western 
boundary to the campus. The massive central tower of Blair is 
pierced by an archway, which with the terraces and flight of steps 
forms the entrance to the University grounds from the southwest. 
There are fifty-three suites in this building which are at present 
occupied by one himdred and twenty persons. Facing Alexan- 
der Hall and east of Blair stands 

Witherspoon Hall, named after the President of Revolution- 
ary days. It was built in 1877 from College funds to provide 
better and more comfortable rooms than had previously been con- 
sidered necessary. Constructed in the Victorian Gothic style 
from blue-gray stone, Witherspoon was considered at the time of 
its erection one of the handsomest and most conveniently ap- 
pointed college dormitories in the country. It cost ;^ 100,000 
and with its sixty suites of rooms provides accommodations for 
one hundred and forty persons. Following the walk which leads 
toward Marquand Chapel and east from Blair and Witherspoon, 
the visitor will pass the beautiful white marble buildings of the 
two literary societies, 

Clio and Whig Halls, forming the southern boundary of the 
old quadrangle. These great rival societies, the Cliosophic and 
the American Whig, founded in the good old colony days, still 
maintain their ancient traditions and are now, as they have al- 
ways been, the most important single influence in the intellectual 



GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 5 I 

training which Princeton gives. Their object is to develop skill 
in writing, speaking, and debating ; they are conducted entirely 
by the undergraduates and their rules are said to be those of the 
House of Representatives of the American Congress. There is 
nothing like these two societies in any other college in the coun- 
try, and they have successfully withstood the invasion of the 
fraternity organizations which have destroyed so many of the old 
literary societies elsewhere. 

The history of the " Halls," as they have come to be known, 
antedates the Revolution. In the year 1765 two literary societies, 
known as the Well Meaning and Plain Dealing Clubs, were or- 
ganized in the College, but because of some disorders were shortly 
afterward suppressed. In 1769, however, with the sanction of 
the Faculty, the Plain Dealers were reorganized under the name of 
the American Whig Society, and in 1 770 the Well Meaning Club 
became the Cliosophic Society. Prominent among the Whig 
founders were James Madison, Philip Freneau, Gunning Bedford, 
and William Bradford ; while William Paterson, Oliver Ellsworth, 
Aaron Burr, and Henry Lee are among the first Cliosophians. 
At first both societies occupied rooms in Nassau Hall but in 1838, 
having outgrown their old quarters, two buildings were erected 
which fifty years later were removed to make way for the present 
handsome structures. The cornerstones of the new buildings 
were laid with appropriate ceremonies at the Commencement of 
1890. The cornerstone of Clio Hall was laid by President Pat- 
ton and that of Whig by Ex-President McCosh. Architecturally 
the Halls are models of Ionic temples and were built from the 
designs of the late A. Page Brown. The fine pillars which sup- 
port the porticos are monoliths cut from solid blocks of marble 
and are among the largest ever quarried in this country. Clio 
Hall stands at the southwestern corner of the quadrangle, next to 
West College, while Whig is nearest to the Library building. In 
front of the Halls and in the centre of the quadrangle is 



52 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

The Big Cannon, left here because of a broken carriage by 
both Washington and Cornwallis on that eventful January morn- 
ing in '77 when they did the town the honor of fighting one of 
the great battles of the Revolution over its quiet fields. 

This old gun, now one of Princeton's most sacred possessions, 
has an interesting history. As a relic of the Revolution it stayed 
for a time in the village until, upon the outbreak of the War of 
1 8 1 2, it was sent to New Brunswick to defend that city against 
an expected attack. It was condemned as unsafe, however, and 
for more than fifteen years lay upon the New Brunswick com- 
mons, until one night the " Princeton Blues," a military company 
composed of citizens of the town, went over with teams and 
brought it back to Princeton. Here they left it in a vacant lot 
and not altogether content must needs signalize the adventure by 
firing a round or two which did great execution among the neigh- 
boring windows and disturbed the early morning slumbers of the 
inhabitants. In 1838 it was carried to the campus and two years 
later planted muzzle downward in its present resting place. 

The old gun still leads a strenuous life. About it, some Sep- 
tember night soon after the opening of College, is held the 
" rush," the annual battle between the Freshmen and the Sopho- 
mores ; here also are built the big fires which mark notable vic- 
tories in football and in baseball ; and around it at Commence- 
ment time the Seniors gather for their last class exercises. It 
is the great totem of the place and about it the life of a Prince- 
ton undergraduate begins and ends. There is another Princeton 
cannon which has also had an eventful career. This is 

The Little Cannon between Whig and Clio Halls. It too 
is a relic of the Revolutionary battle, and it may have been 
the same "alarm gun" that some mahcious Tory spiked and 
rendered otherwise useless on the evening of June 10, 1780, 
which proceeding is referred to in no gentle terms in the 




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GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 53 

New Jersey Gazette of the day. For many years this gun 
remained buried at the corner of Nassau and Witherspoon 
streets until one night the undergraduates transferred it to the 
campus. In 1854 the students of Rutgers College missed from 
their grounds a small piece of brass ordnance and were somehow 
led to believe that it had found its way to Princeton, Laboring 
under this delusion, a party of them came over on the night of 
April 26, 1875, during the Princeton vacation, dug up the little 
cannon and carried it away to New Brunswick. When college 
was again convened and the loss discovered great was the wrath 
at Princeton and many were the threats of reprisal. Finally, 
after some sharp correspondence had passed between the heads 
of the two institutions, a joint committee, chosen from the faculty 
of each college, was appointed to straighten matters out. Pend- 
ing these negotiations, however, a few Princetonians descended 
one night upon the college in New Brunswick and not finding 
the cannon, broke open the museum and carried off some old 
muskets which were in the building. This act of open hostility 
did not tend to soothe the feelings of the gentlemen of Rutgers 
but in the end diplomacy won the day, the muskets and the can- 
non were returned to their rightful owners and the matter was 
soon forgotten. However, when the little gun was once more in 
Princeton, to guard against eventualities it was firmly imbedded 
in a ton or more of concrete, and so deeply buried that but a 
small portion of its length was left above the ground. And so, 
resting safely in the shadow of the old Halls, it may be found at 
the present day. Across the quadrangle and on its eastern side 
stands the main building of the 

University Library, a Sesquicentennial gift from the late 
Mrs. Percy Rivington Pyne. Before describing the two build- 
ings which together contain the library of the University, a short 
account of the origin and growth of this great collection of books 
may be of interest. 



54 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

Historical. The library undoubtedly began with the College 
itself. The first mention of it is found in a minute of the Trus- 
tees, dated September 26, 1750, authorizing President Burr 
to purchase a bookcase for the use of the College. When Nas- 
sau Hall was built a few years later it contained a spacious 
library-room, planned on so ample a scale that when Congress 
met there in 1783 it was found to be nearly as large as the room 
which they had occupied in Philadelphia. In 1 760 the College was 
possessed of a collection of about 1,200 volumes, many of which 
had been given by Governor Belcher. When Witherspoon came 
over from Scotland in 1768 he brought with him some 300 vol- 
umes presented by " sundry friends abroad " and gladdened the 
Trustees with the news that he was expecting " another consid- 
erable collection of books." Witherspoon also brought with him 
a young Scotsman, one Hugh Sim, whom he recommended as 
" a person of singular ingenuity and merit and well qualified to 
serve the interests of the College" in the offices of Librarian 
and Inspector of Rooms. Sim received these appointments and 
was paid a yearly salary of " £,^ together with his commons in 
College." He appears to have been the first regularly appointed 
Librarian. 

The outbreak of the Revolution proved a sore blow to the 
College in more ways than one. The old building was despoiled 
by friend and foe alike ; books were carried away wholesale by 
the soldiers of Cornwallis and some of them were afterwards re- 
covered in far away South Carolina. After the war a contem- 
porary tells us that " what was left did not deserve the name of 
a library." No sooner, however, had the process of recuperation 
again furnished the College with a suitable library than the great 
fire of 1802 swept it away in the space of a few hours. Of 
over 3,000 volumes but a bare 100 were saved, and yet, such was 
the perseverance and untiring energy which these founders of 




Interior of Alexander Hall 
By courtesy of the American Architect 



GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 55 

the library displayed, that in less than two years they had once 
more gathered together a collection of some 4,000 volumes. In 
this undertaking they were most generously assisted by friends 
at home and abroad, and particularly by Dr. Willard, President 
of Harvard College, through whose influence Massachusetts 
contributed 744 volumes, a much greater number than any other 
state. 

During the next half century the library grew with the in- 
creasing power and influence of the College. In 1839 it num- 
bered 8,000 volumes; in 1856, 9,313 ; and in 1868, about 14,000 
volumes, as yet without a separate building or an adequate en- 
dowment. In 1 868 Mr. John C. Green, a benefactor of the In- 
stitution in many ways, created the Elizabeth Fund for the pur- 
chase of books which yields ^3,000 a year, and shortly afterward 
erected a library building which he named in honor of Chancel- 
lor Henry Woodhull Green, of the class of 1820. Prior to 1868 
the only considerable gift of money which the library had re- 
ceived was a legacy of ;^ 1,000 left by President James Madison, 
a pupil of Witherspoon's. The interest which Mr. Green and 
the members of his family have taken in the welfare of the library 
accounts very largely for its rapid growth during the last forty 
years ; in this period it has grown from 14,000 volumes to 
185,000 at the present day. The renewed interest awakened in 
the library through the gift of a magnificent new building in 
1896 is undoubtedly responsible for the great increase in recent 
years, the gain during the last decade alone exceeding 90,000 
volumes. The total number of bound volumes, exclusive of du- 
plicates, now in the library, is 185,000, and there are in addi- 
tion some 50,000 unbound periodicals, pamphlets, and manu- 
scripts. The present yearly rate of accession is approximately 
10,000 volumes. 

Descriptive, The two buildings, the Chancellor Green Library 



56 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

and the New Library Building, which has been architecturally 
combined with it, together form the University Library. The 
Chancellor Green Library, a gift from Mr. John C. Green, was 
erected in 1872 at a cost of $120,000. It consists of a central 
octagon connected by passageways with two wings of a similar 
form, the extreme length from wing to wing being 160 feet. 
The central octagon, 64 feet in diameter and 50 feet in height, 
was originally planned to provide a shelving space for 100,000 
volumes. When, upon the occasion of the Sesquicentennial, pro- 
vision was made by a friend of the University for a new building 
with space for 1,200,000 volumes, the Chancellor Green building, 
long crowded beyond its calculated capacity, was found to be 
admirably adapted to the uses of a working library, and has since 
then been refitted throughout with the most modern system of 
heating, lighting, and ventilation. 

The New Library Building, which forms the eastern side of the 
quadrangle, was erected in 1897 at a cost of $650,000 and is one 
of the largest and most splendidly equipped college libraries in 
the country. It is constructed from Longmeadow stone in the 
Gothic style of Oxford, and is connected with the Chancellor 
Green building by a main entrance hallway in which are located 
the card catalogues and the delivery desk. The northern and 
southern wings, known as the " stacks," contain shelving space 
for 500,000 volumes each, the total estimated capacity of the 
united buildings being about 1,250,000 volumes. In the eastern 
and western wings are the administration rooms and the semi- 
naries, — rooms furnished with special libraries and set apart for 
the purposes of advanced study. Ornamenting the western tower 
are the statues of President Witherspoon, President McCosh, 
James Madison, of the class of 1771, Richard Stockton, of the 
class of 1748, and Oliver Ellsworth, of the class of 1766. The 
designs for the Library were prepared by William A. Potter, of 




TiK': Lir.KAKv Towicr 



GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 5/ 

New York, the architect of Alexander Hall and of other Prince- 
ton buildings. 

Entering the Library the visitor will find in the hallway which 
connects the two buildings the author and subject card catalogues 
and the delivery desk where account is taken of the books that 
are borrowed and those returned. On the left is the Chancellor 
Green building, recently refitted as a reading room, containing 
the standard and latest works in all departments and especially 
adapted to the purposes of study. Here may be found a col- 
lection of some forty thousand volumes, chiefly those in general 
circulation, and a very complete list of the best periodicals. The 
desk of the Reference Librarian, whose office is to assist inves- 
tigators to the sources for their work, is also here. This desk 
is connected by telephone with all parts of the Library so that 
any book in the stacks may be sent for and delivered at the 
reader's table. In the western wing is the meeting room of the 
Trustees of the University ; opposite in the eastern wing are 
the offices of the Dean of the Graduate School and the Secre- 
tary of the University. The Trustees' room is open to visitors 
except on the days of stated meeting. 

The exhibition room, across the hallway in the new building, 
contains the following special collections : 

The Morgan Collection of Virgils, presented by Junius S. 
Morgan, Esq., '88. This fine collection includes many rare and 
valuable editions and is the largest of its kind in this coun- 
try and one of the largest in the world. Among its treas^ 
ures is the first edition of Virgil, the editio princeps, printed 
at Rome in 1469 and one of the rarest books in existence. An- 
other famous volume in the collection is Grolier's own copy of 
the poet, printed arid bound by him in 1541. The collection 
numbers in all some 659 volumes and is valued at more than 
^50,000. 



58 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

The William Horace Morse Collection of Japanese 
netsiikes (small carvings), comprising 475 examples, the great 
maj ority of which are in ivory. This collection, valued at $ 1 0,000, 
is a gift to the University from the family of the late WilHam 
Horace Morse, and is now temporarily exhibited in the Library. 

The Hutton Collection of Death Masks, presented to 
the University in 1897 by the late Laurence Hutton. This 
unique collection of " portraits in plaster " is the largest and 
finest in the world and the only one, in fact, that may be digni- 
fied by the term collection. 

Mr. Hutton became interested in death masks in the early 
sixties when he was then living in New York. One afternoon 
in a bookstore he saw a mask of Benjamin Franklin that had been 
found in an ash barrel on Second Avenue and on exploring this 
barrel discovered another mask of Franklin, one of Wordsworth, 
one of Scott, and one of Cromwell, also casts from the skulls of 
Robert Bruce and Robert Burns. With these Mr. Hutton's col- 
lection was begun. The mask of Dean Swift is the only one in 
existence. It was originally the property of Trinity College, 
Dublin, but was stolen from the College library in 1853. -^ 
large reward was offered for its return but nothing was ever 
heard of it. Several years ago Mr, Hutton came across this rare 
mask under a pile of rubbish in an old curiosity shop in London. 
The most valuable mask in the collection is that of Sir Isaac 
Newton, It was made by Roubilliac and is one of two in exist- 
ence. The original is in the rooms of the Royal Society, at 
Burlington House, London. The collection numbers in all some 
seventy-four masks. 

In addition to these collections there are many other things of 
interest in the exliibition room. Against the eastern partition 
and near the entrance hangs the Doctor of Laws diploma con- 
ferred upon James Madison by the College in 1787. About 



GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 59 

the walls are the framed congratulatory letters, from institutions 
of both the old and the new world, addressed to the University 
upon the occasion of the celebration of her one hundred and fiftieth 
anniversary. Among the portraits now in the exhibition room 
may be noted one of Judge William Paterson of the class of 1763, 
a framer of the Constitution and one of Princeton's most noted 
sons, which faces the entrance from the south wall, bequeathed 
by his grandson, Judge William Paterson, of class 1835; a portrait 
of Ex- President Francis Landey Patton, by John W Alexander, 
west wall ; and one of James Ormsbee Murray, first Dean of the 
University, north wall. In one of the cases near the entrance 
may be seen an interesting collection of Princetoniana, including 
the Madison family Bible which records the birth of James 
Madison ; the original manuscript copy of Madison's speech, 
delivered upon the occasion of his inauguration as President of 
the United States, March 4, 1 809 ; President Edward's Hebrew 
Bible ; a manuscript sermon in the autograph of President Burr ; 
and an exhibit of early College publications. In another case at 
the farther end of the room is an exhibit of letters and publica- 
tions relating to Aaron Burr the younger, of the class of 1 772. 
The large case against the western wall contains in part a series 
of autographs of many of the early presidents of the College, as 
well as those of some of her more noted sons, and a set of the 
exquisitely printed pubUcations of the GroHer Club. The cases 
in the central part of the room at present contain an interesting 
collection of Babylonian and Assyrian seals and tablets, and those 
against the southern wall an exhibit of early illuminated texts 
and manuscripts, and papyri. 

Upon pubhc occasions, such as Commencement and the days 
of the big games, it is customary to allow a limited number of per- 
sons, accompanied by a guide, the privilege of visiting the stacks 
and the tower. From the tower a splendid view may be had of 



6o THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

the University grounds and buildings, the town of Princeton, and 
the surrounding country, which will fully compensate the visitor 
for the fatigues of the ascent. 

In descending to the main floor the visitor will have an op- 
portunity of examining the construction of the great bookcases 
or " stacks." These stacks, built after the Library Bureau's 
system, consist of five stories, each story being seven and one- 
half feet high. The construction is of iron, steel, and glass, ex- 
cept the shelves which are of wood. The stacks are practically 
a solid unit from the bottom to the top of the building, each 
bookcase being circled by the glass "decks" which form the 
floors and which permit of an equal diffusion of light. These 
decks do not extend quite to the side walls, thus allowing a free 
circulation of air which is furnished by forced ventilation, there- 
by insuring an even temperature in different parts of the build- 
ing. The stacks are built upon what is known as the "open 
end " system by which the shelves are supported upon brackets 
instead of resting on pins or bars at each end. By means of a set- 
screw they may be easily adjusted at any desired height. Wood 
has been used for the shelves because polished metal was found 
to be too slippery, or when roughened, too wearing on the books. 
The light and graceful structure of the open end system, the 
white enamel and glass, and the admirable amount of light, have 
produced an exceptionally attractive stack from the technical 
standpoint. 

In the basement below the main hallway is located the print- 
ing and binding room, where under skilful direction the work of 
the Library in these departments is being most successfully car- 
ried on. A glimpse of this room may be had from the ground 
floor of the stack. In addition to those already enumerated the 
building contains some forty rooms, ten of which are devoted to 
the purposes of administration, sixteen to seminary work, and 



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GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 6 1 

fourteen to machinery and other uses. The administration 
rooms, not generally open to visitors, are located in the north- 
eastern corner. They include rooms for the Librarian and for 
the ordering and cataloguing departments. 

The seminary rooms for advanced study and instruction in the 
methods of research are a special feature of the new Library. 
They are primarily intended for the graduate student and within 
their quiet bounds a majority of the graduate courses offered in 
the University are conducted. They are provided with special 
libraries and are separately endowed. Although not usually open 
to visitors the seminaries may be seen during vacation by secur- 
ing permission at the desk. 

Among the special collections in the Library, not before enum- 
erated, are the following : 

The Pierson Civil War Collection, presented by John S. 
Pierson, Esq., '40, numbering 4,671 volumes, 1,500 bound pe- 
riodicals, 2,500 unbound periodicals, and including also several 
thousand clippings. The second largest collection of books and 
papers relating to the Civil War in this country. Location : 
stack, fourth floor. 

The Pyne-Henry Collection of Manuscripts relating to 
the history of the University, presented by M. Taylor Pyne, 
Esq., 'tj, and the Hon. Bayard Henry, '76. 1,356 documents. 
Location : Chancellor Green Library. 

The Princeton University Collection, including the large 
collection of Princetoniana presented by Professor William Lib- 
bey, 'TT- 3,585 volumes. Location: stack, fourth floor. 

The Garrett Collection of Oriental Manuscripts, con- 
sisting of 1,770 documents, chiefly in Arabic, deposited for the 
present in the University Library. Location : Northwestern cor- 
ner, second floor, left. 

The Garrett Collection of Coins, deposited in the Library 



62 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

by Robert Garrett, Esq., '95. This collection, embracing also 
specimens from many foreign countries, contains one of the most 
complete series of American coins in the country. It also in- 
cludes a number of medals commemorative of notable historic 
events and persons. 

Access may be had to these collections only by special per- 
mission of the Librarian. The building is open from 8 a. m. until 
10 p.m. during term time, and from 9 a.m. until i p.m. in vaca- 
tion. East of the Library is 

Dickinson Hall, containing the lecture and recitation rooms of 
the Academic Department. It was built in 1870 at a cost ex- 
ceeding $100,000, and is a gift from Mr. John C. Green. It 
was named by the donor in honor of Jonathan Dickinson, the 
first president of the College, from whom Mr. Green was Hneally 
descended. Dickinson Hall contains little of interest to the 
visitor. Beyond it toward the east is the building of the 

John C. Green School of Science, erected in 1873 and lib- 
erally endowed by the same generous benefactor after whom it 
has been named. It is devoted to the purposes of instruction 
and research in the School of Science and contains the lecture 
rooms and laboratories of that department. The Museum of 
Biology in the large upper hall, open to visitors between the 
hours of 9 a. m. and 5 p. m. daily, is well worth seeing. It is 
reached by taking the right-hand door of the three forming the 
main entrance to the building and ascending to the third floor. 
In the central room may be found a large collection of mounted 
and disarticulated skeletons of mammals, reptiles, birds, and 
fishes. Here also is a very fine series of the representative 
birds of New Jersey, mounted under the direction of Mr. Wil- 
Uam E. D. Scott, the well-known ornithologist, who has been for 
many years curator of the Department of Ornithology. This col- 
lection is supplemented in the laboratories by the following 




John C. Gkekn 
Fnim a p(irtrait at the Law ronceville School 



GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 63 

groups of unmounted birds, showing the relation of the local col- 
lection to the avifauna of the world at large : a North American 
collection, a European collection, an Austrahan collection, an 
Indo- Asian collection, and a South American collection ; num- 
bering in all some sixteen thousand specimens. In the room 
upon the right of the main hall may be seen a series of the eggs 
and nests of many of the birds of North America. The Depart- 
ment of Ornithology possesses in all more than four thousand 
sets of eggs, most of them in nests, but a small proportion of 
which are on exhibition. The large case at the end of this room 
contains a group of the great condors of the Andes, These im- 
mense birds are among the largest in the world and frequently 
measure twelve or even fourteen feet from wing tip to wing tip. 

Connected with the basement of the School of Science is the 
dynamo building of the Department of Electrical Engineering. 
The plant consists of a Westinghouse alternate generator with a 
full set of transformers, and other machines and instruments 
needed in technical work or in exact investigation. Northeast of 
the School of Science and at the junction of Washington Road 
and Nassau Street stands the 

Chemical Building, containing the various laboratories and 
lecture rooms of the Department of Chemistry. It was erected 
in 1 89 1 at a cost of ;^8o,ooo, and is the gift of the resi- 
duary legatees of the estate of John C. Green. It is of 
fireproof construction and was planned after a careful study 
had been made of the best laboratories at home and abroad. 
The top floor is occupied by the student laboratories and 
the second floor by lecture rooms, cabinets, and private lab- 
oratories. In the basement are other rooms for experimental 
work, a furnace room, and a mineral cabinet. Taking the path 
leading toward the Library and in the rear of Dickinson Hall, 
the visitor will pass on the left the 



64 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

Biological Laboratory, presented to the University by the 
Class of 1877 upon the occasion of their decennial reunion. It 
is designed for the advanced practical and experimental courses 
in anatomy and embryology and contains the laboratories and 
lecture rooms of the Department of Biology. The building was 
erected in 1888 from the plans of A. Page Brown and cost 
$ 1 2,000. It is open to visitors only by special permission of the 
Curator. Turning to the left by the Library the visitor will 
find 

Marquand Chapel near the entrance to the grounds of Pros- 
pect, and upon the left of the roadway leading from Nassau Street. 
This beautiful building, the gift of the late Henry G. Marquand 
of New York, was erected in 1881 at a cost of ^135,000. It is 
constructed of brownstone in the form of a Greek cross and was 
designed by Richard M. Hunt. The interior is handsomely 
decorated and enriched with frescoes and stained glass. The 
windows upon the left, beneath the rose window, are the gift of 
Mrs. Henry G. Marquand in memory of her son, Frederick A. 
Marquand, of the class of 1876. They were designed by Francis 
Lathrop. Upon the opposite or right wall are the windows in 
memory of William Earl Dodge of the class of 1879, designed 
by the same artist. The small windows in the apse by John 
LaFarge are fine examples of his skilful combination of brilliant 
colors. The large rose windows are by Louis C. Tiffany. Upon 
the western wall above the entrance are the Horatio Whitridge 
Garrett memorial windows, the gift of his mother, Mrs. T. 
Harrison Garrett of Baltimore. They are also the work of 
Louis C. Tiffany. The figures in the conch, or dome of the 
apse, are by Frederic Crowninshield. 

On the eastern wall to the left of the apse may be seen the 
tablet in memory of Joseph Henry, designed by A. Page Brown 
and executed by Louis St. Gaudens. Near it is the bronze tablet 




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GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 65 

to Arnold Guyot, the gift of his Princeton pupils, fastened upon 
the fragment of a Swiss glacial boulder presented by the author- 
ities of his native city, Neuchatel. Close by the pulpit is the 
heroic bronze relief of President McCosh by Augustus St. 
Gaudens, the gift of the Class of 1879. To the right of the 
apse is the tablet of rose-colored Numidian marble, designed by 
C. R. Lamb with a medallion port by J. Q. A. Ward, erected in 
1 90 1 in memory of James Ormsbee Murray, first Dean of the 
University. Near the entrance, upon the north wall, is the bronze 
tablet in memory of George Yardley Taylor of the class of 1882, 
and Cortlandt Van Rensselaer Hodge of the class of 1893, two 
young missionaries who lost their lives in the Boxer uprising in 
China in 1900. It was designed by Howard Crosby Butler, of 
the class of 1 892. Marquand Chapel is open . daily to visitors 
during term time ; if closed, in vacation or at other times, it may 
be seen by applying for a guide at the office of the Curator of 
Grounds and Buildings. Across the roadway and near the en- 
trance to the Chapel stand 

Murray and Dodge Halls, the home of the Philadelphian 
Society, an undergraduate organization for the promotion of the 
religious interests of the University. Murray Hall was erected 
in 1879 from a bequest left by Hamilton Murray of the class of 
1872, who was lost at sea in the Ville dii Havre. It contains 
an auditorium for public worship and the library of the Society. 
Dodge Hall, connected with Murray Hall by an ambulatory, is 
the gift of Mr. William Earl Dodge and his son, Cleveland H. 
Dodge of the class of 1879, in memory of the late William Earl 
Dodge of the same class. It was designed by Parish and Shroe- 
der of New York in the Gothic style of architecture so effec- 
tively employed in the later Princeton buildings. It contains four 
rooms for the religious meetings of the four classes, a handsomely 
furnished reading room containing the current periodicals and 

E 



66 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

recent fiction, committee rooms, and the apartments of the Sec- 
retary of the Society. Dodge Hall was erected in 1900 at a cost 
of ^60,000. 

The Philadelphian Society, by the way, is the oldest college 
religious organization in the country. It was founded in 1825, 
when it absorbed the Nassau Bible Society, the parent of the 
American Bible Society. It has always exerted a strong influ- 
ence for good, not only in the University but in the town and 
surrounding country. The buildings of the Society are open to 
visitors during term time. Turning to the left after leaving Mur- 
ray and Dodge Halls the visitor will enter the head of 

McCosh Walk, which extends from Prospect gate to Wash- 
ington Road. Destructive storms and the ravages of insects 
have greatly marred the beauty of the fine old elms which border 
the Walk ; it will take many years for them to hide the dam- 
age wrought by the great sleet storm of February 22, 1902. 
Through the liberality of a friend of the University the Walk 
has been preserved as an attractive feature of the campus. Be- 
yond the Walk lies 

Prospect, the official residence of the President of the Uni- 
versity. The mansion, built in 1849, is beautifully situated in 
extensive grounds and commands a wide view of the country 
stretching away toward the south and east. It was acquired by 
the University in 1878 and since then has been the residence of 
three of Princeton's presidents. The grounds are not open to 
visitors. 

Prospect is one of the oldest estates in the town. Two hun- 
dred and twenty-five years ago it was part of a tract of some 
five hundred acres lying upon the southern or college side of the 
main street, acquired from Governor Barclay, one of the Pro- 
prietors, by a Dr. John Gordon of Colliston in Forfarshire. In 
1696 it was purchased by Richard Stockton, one of the first set- 




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GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 6/ 

tiers and the grandfather of the Signer of the same name. It 
next passed to Benjamin Fitz Randolph who conveyed it to 
his son Nathaniel, the benefactor of the College. In 1760 
Prospect was sold to Jonathan Baldwin who in turn disposed of 
it to Colonel George Morgan, the famous Indian agent, ex- 
plorer, and scientific farmer. From Colonel Morgan's posses- 
sion the place passed into that of his son John, and in 1805 the 
latter disposed of it to John I. Craig, who in 1824 sold it to 
John Potter. The latter' s son Thomas tore down the Morgan 
house and built the present mansion which, with a property of 
less than thirty-five acres, was finally deeded to the University 
in 1878 by Robert L. and Alexander Stuart. In George 
Morgan's time the place was famous throughout the middle 
states as " Prospect near Princeton," and many are the person- 
ages of note who partook of the Colonel's lavish hospitality.* At 
the end of McCosh Walk, near Washington Road, stands the 

Magnetic Observatory of the Department of Electrical En- 
gineering. It is a brick building without iron in its construction 
and is situated in a position in which it is free as far as possible 
from the disturbing influences of large masses of iron. The Ob- 
servatory was built in 1889, and is connected with the dynamo 
building adjoining the School of Science by heavy copper wires 
so that its instruments are available for experimental work with 
the dynamos. The building is fully equipped with the instru- 
ments needed both in technical work and in the field of exact in- 
vestigation. Beyond it along Washington Road stands the new 

Seventy-nine Hall, erected in 1904, a gift to the University 
from the Class of 1879. It is built of red brick and Indiana 
Hmestone in the Tudor Gothic style of architecture, and was de- 
signed by Benjamin W. Morris, Jr. Advantage has been taken 

* The above sketch is mainly taken from V. L. Collin's " Prospect near Prince- 
ton," in the Princeton University Bulletin, Vol. XV, No. III. 



68 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

of its distance from Blair and Little Halls and the Gymnasium 
to change the materials and so give it a more individual character. 
The suites consist of a study, in which is set an open fireplace, 
and two single bedrooms, separated from the study by a passage 
opening from the stair hall. It was built at a cost of ;^i 10,000 
and will accommodate fifty men. South of Seventy-nine Hall 
and pleasantly located on the edge of the hill overlooking Stony 
Brook, the 

Isabella McCosh Infirmary commands every advantage of 
position as to air, outlook, and drainage. The Infirmary, named 
after one who has for so many years endeared herself to the 
students by her motherly interest in them, is the gift of various 
alumni and friends of the University. It cost 1^30,000 and was 
erected in 1893 from plans prepared by Baker and Dallett of 
Philadelphia, under the supervision of Surgeon-General Billings. 
In 1 899 an annex was added to provide for the reception of 
special cases requiring isolation. 

While the health of Princeton is exceptionally good, the oc- 
casional illness incident to so large a student body demanded 
suitable accommodation for its care, and it was to furnish a com- 
fortable home for these cases of illness that the Infirmary was 
built. The Sanitary Committee of the University has the build- 
ing in its care and it is thus brought under constant and thorough 
supervision. As it is without endowment each student by the 
payment of a small fee secures for himself, in all cases of ordinary 
illness, needed care and everything in fact but physician's fees 
and medicines, without charge. Where special nursing is re- 
quired an additional charge covering the actual expenses is made, 
and when an illness covers a period of more than one week board 
is charged for after the first week at the rate that the student 
would pay at his regular boarding place. A competent matron 
and nurses are in charge of the building, which is not generally 



GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 69 

open to visitors. Returning to the campus by way of McCosh 
Walk the visitor will find the 

Museum of Historic Art near the entrance to Prospect and 
south of Murray and Dodge Halls. Plans for an art museum 
were prepared by A. Page Brown of New York in 1887 and 
during the early part of 1889, through the liberality of friends 
of the University, the central portion of the building was com- 
pleted at a cost of $50,000. The plans for the finished struc- 
ture show two side wings for the extension of the collections 
and a rear room designed for a lecture hall. The Museum 
is built of art brick and the fa9ade is ornamented with a repro- 
duction in terra cotta of the eastern portion of the frieze of the 
Parthenon. 

In the main entrance hall may be found a series of Egyptian 
heads, including a cast of the fine head of Rameses II from the 
original in the Turin Museum. Here also are a few representa- 
tive sculptures, among which the beautiful statue of Nydia, by 
Rogers, is worthy of note. The large rooms on each side of this 
hallway contain the Trumbull-Prime collection of pottery and 
porcelain, presented to the University by the late William Cow- 
per Prime of the class of 1843. ^^ is one of the most notable 
collections illustrative of the history of ceramic art in the country 
and is the basis from which Mr. Prime wrote his well-known 
" Pottery and Porcelain of all Times and Nations." The room 
upon the left contains the earlier examples of the collection, dat- 
ing from the Egyptian glazed faience represented by sepulchral 
figurines, beads, and amulets, as well as the later pottery of 
Europe illustrated by a large collection of plates, vases, and cups 
from Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Russia, and Holland. 
Greece, Etruria, and Southern Italy are represented by Corin- 
thian ware and by the fine vases of the black-figured and red- 
figured types, exhibited in the individual cases in the centre of 



70 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

the room. Phoenicia is well represented by the collection of 
Cypriote pottery presented by Professor Marquand. 

In the room upon the right may be seen a number of fine 
Wedgwood reliefs, many of the well-known Staffordshire histori- 
cal plates, and examples of the wares of Holland, England, and 
Germany. The Orient is represented by specimens from Persia, 
China, and Japan, and South America by Peruvian pottery. The 
Trumbull-Prime collection is richest in examples of European 
wares, to which England, France, Germany, and Holland are the 
chief contributors, but Italy, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland 
are also represented. In all it comprises about 20,000 speci- 
mens. 

The small room near the stairway contains the Livingston 
loan collection of English pottery. It is especially rich in Staf- 
fordshire plates, notable for the material they furnish illustrative 
of the early history of our country. In the rear of the hallway 
are a number of casts of Renaissance sculpture, including a se- 
ries of reliefs from Ghiberti's gates in Florence. Against the 
walls of the stairway leading to the upper floor may be seen 
casts from the masterpieces of Donatello, Delia Robbia, Mino 
da Fiesole, Michelangelo, and Benvenuto Cellini. At the head 
of the stairs is a cast from the bronze bas-relief of Jonathan Ed- 
wards in the church at Northampton, Massachusetts. 

Prominent in the upper hall is a series of five reliefs of rep- 
resentative Roman sculpture from the Arch of Trajan at Bene- 
ventum. The cases against the wall contain a collection of 
reproductions of coins, gems, and cameos ; samples of ancient and 
modern marble ; and an interesting series of objects illustrating 
the different processes of mezzotint, engraving, and etching. 
The room upon the right contains the working library of the De- 
partment of Art, including an important collection of books and 
periodicals on ancient and mediaeval art placed in the Museum for 




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GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 7 1 

the use of students by Professor Marquand, and the architectural 
library of the late Frederick Barnard White of the class of 1883, 
presented by his mother, Mrs. Norman White. 

The room upon the left contains an interesting collection of 
early Italian paintings. Among these may be mentioned an old 
Tuscan altar-piece representing the Madonna lowering her girdle 
to St. Thomas ; the fine replica of Titian's beautiful Magdalen of 
the Hermitage ; and an important painting by Michel Rocca, 
known also as Parmigiano, recently presented to the Museum. 
By far the most interesting and perhaps the most valuable paint- 
ing of the group, however, is the remarkable "Christ before 
Pilate" by the Flemish master, Hieronymus Bosch, loaned to the 
Museum by Professor Marquand. The artist's genius in depict- 
ing the grotesque, which seems to be his distinguishing character- 
istic, is here fully displayed for no more villainous a set of faces, 
we believe, has ever been put upon canvas. Other works of this 
master, who lived in the latter half of the fifteenth and the early 
part of the sixteeth centuries, are preserved in the great mu- 
seums at Brussels, Antwerp, Paris, Madrid, and Lisbon. The 
cases in this room contain a series of casts of early Christian, 
Byzantine, and Gothic ivories, Sevres plates from the Trumbull- 
Prime collection, a series of American and Italian medals, pre- 
sented by Mrs. R. L. Stuart and Professor Frothingham, and a 
number of manuscripts of the Renaissance period with their orig- 
inal seals, presented by Thomas Shields Clarke of the class of 
1882. One of the latter bears the signature of the Doge 
Morosini who led the Venetians in the attack upon the Turks at 
Athens in 1687 which resulted in the destruction of the 
Parthenon. 

The lower staircase and basement are occupied by a carefully 
selected collection of casts of ancient and mediaeval sculpture, 
presented by the Class of 1881 at its decennial reunion. This 



72 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

collection was formed to illustrate the history of ancient sculp- 
ture in Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria, Persia, Greece, and Rome, 
and of mediaeval sculpture in Italy, France, and Germany. The 
room upon the right is devoted to Greek works of the archaic 
and classic periods, including some figures from the east pediment 
of the Parthenon, and the Hermes of Praxiteles. In the room 
upon the left are examples of later Greek sculpture, such as re- 
liefs from the great altar of Pergamon, and the Apollo Belvidere, 
as well as a series of casts of bronzes and smaller marbles. The 
basement hall contains casts of Italian, French, Romanesque, 
and Gothic sculptures, among which are the Madonna and Child 
from the Notre Dame, Paris, the Sibyl from the Bamberg 
Cathedral, and several sepulchral monuments. On the stairway 
are Egyptian and Assyrian reliefs. 

During sessions the Museum is open to visitors from nine un- 
til five ; if closed, in vacation or at other times, a request for a 
guide should be made at the office of the Curator of Grounds and 
Buildings. Across the lower campus, west of the Art Museum, 
stands 

Albert B. Dod Hall, the gift of the late Mrs. David Brown 
in memory of her brother, Albert Baldwin Dod of the class of 
1822, for many years professor of mathematics in the College. 
This fine dormitory, furnishing accommodations for more than 
one hundred men, was built in 1890 at a cost of 1^75,000. It is 
a long massive structure in the Italian style, constructed from 
hard sandstone with trimmings of Indiana limestone and Georgia 
marble. South of the Museum of Art is 

David Brown Hall, also the gift of Mrs. Brown and erected 
by her in 1 892 in memory of her husband. Brown Hall, built 
at a cost of ^100,000, embodies many new features of dormitory 
construction and was designed to furnish sunnier and more com- 
fortably arranged rooms than the older buildings afforded. It 




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GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 73 

was built from the plans of J. Lyman Faxon, the architect of 
Dod Hall, and is modeled after a Florentine palace in the style 
of the Italian Renaissance. It furnishes accommodations for 
one hundred and forty men and is pleasantly situated at the edge 
of Prospect gardens, overlooking many miles of blue valley 
stretching away to the far off hills of the Manalapan. Southwest 
of Brown is the 

Brokaw Memorial Building, the gift of Mr. I. V. Brokaw 
of New York in memory of his son Frederick Brokaw, of the 
class of 1 892, who lost his life in the surf at Elberon, New Jer- 
sey, while attempting the rescue of a drowning girl. The build- 
ing overlooks the University tennis courts and Brokaw Field, 
provided by the alumni for the benefit of undergraduates who 
are not members of the University athletic teams. It furnishes 
shower baths and dressing-room accommodations for several 
hundred men. The western wing contains a porcelain swimming 
pool, one hundred feet in length by twenty-five in width, which 
is connected with the new gymnasium. Below the wide terrace, 
upon the southern front of the Brokaw Building, is the plant of 
the 

University Power Company, for heating and lighting the 
University buildings. This Company, organized in 1902 in the 
interests of the Institution, now furnishes heat and light to all 
the buildings upon the campus, effecting thereby a large saving 
in administrative expenses. Their plant has been equipped with 
the most modern machinery for producing heat and light and is 
well worth visiting. 

Entering by the door upon the southern front of the building 
the visitor will find upon the left the main boiler room of the 
plant. Here are two boilers of 350 horse power each and four 
of 250 each, supplying a total of 1,700 horse power. These 
boilers, made by the Aultman and Taylor Company of Mansfield, 



74 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

Ohio, are of the latest water tube design and are considered the 
best for the purposes for which they are used. Here all the 
steam used for heat, light, and power is generated, by far 
the greatest part of it, however, going into the great heating 
mains which are connected by a system of underground tunnels 
with the different buildings upon the campus. At the right of 
the boiler room may be seen several Worthington feed-water 
pumps, which supply water for the boilers ; also two Knowles 
vacuum pumps, whose duty is to return the water which collects 
from condensed steam along the lines of the system. 

The equipment for the generation of electricity, which will be 
found on the main floor at the right of the entrance, consists of one 
loo-K. W. two-phase alternator, installed by the General Electric 
Company ; one 200-K. W. alternator of the same type ; and one 
220-K. W. Westinghouse two-phase alternator. Each of these 
machines is connected directly with a Reeves upright, compound, 
high-speed engine. The plant also contains one motor-driven 
and one turbine-driven exciter, the station switchboard and its 
accessory instruments, and a special experimental switchboard for 
the use of students in the Department of Electrical Engineering. 
The entire equipment of motors, generators, transformers, and 
other machinery is also available for the use of the Department. 

From the terrace beneath the Brokaw Building a view may be 
had of the site for the group of buildings which the Trustees 
propose to erect upon the eastern and southern sides of the Field. 
Work is soon to begin on the first of this group, the Alumni 
Dormitory, a gift from the classes of 1892 to 1901 inclusive, and 
which is to cost 1^130,000. Mr. Benjamin W. Morris, Jr., the 
architect of the group, thus describes the new dormitory.* 

" It has been designed as an independent feature of a general 
scheme, and preserves distinctly its own identity. The style of 

* From The Princeton Alumni Weekly of January 28, 1905. 




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GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 75 

architecture is a development of the Tudor or Collegiate Gothic, 
which has been adopted in the buildings last erected on the 
campus. . . . The extreme length of the building is 284 feet 
and its greatest depth is 80 feet. Ten doorways or entries are 
shown and the accommodation will be for a few less than 100 
men. The general arrangement will be a study and two bed- 
rooms, though in some cases there will be variations. 

" The height of the building varies from two to five stories, a 
feature thought to add greatly to its picturesque charm. Each 
of the two-story sections will be an approximate unit, represent- 
ing the gift of a single class. The higher portions of the build- 
ing will have two entries, instead of one, for a corresponding 
amount of ground area covered. Every class will have its own 
doorway properly distinguished, and will thus secure a tangible 
and visible demonstration of its generosity to the University." 
North of the Brokaw Building and connected with it stands the 

New Gymnasium, erected by the alumni in 1903 at a cost 
of $300,000, This splendid building, designed by Cope and 
Stewardson, is one of the largest and best equipped gymnasiums in 
the country. It is built of the same material and in architectural 
harmony with the Gothic of Blair and Little Halls, and forms 
with them an almost unbroken western boundary to the campus. 

The main floor, containing the apparatus for physical training, 
is reached through a spacious trophy hall finished in English oak. 
The roof is supported entirely by the side walls thus leaving an 
unobstructed floor space 166 feet in length by 10 1 in width. 
About the main floor is an elevated running track of more than 
1 70 yards around, or of ten laps to the mile. The dressing room, 
with locker accommodations for nearly two thousand men and 
with a full complement of shower and plunge baths, is located in 
the basement which is connected directly with the swimming pool. 
There are, in addition to those already mentioned, committee 



"^6 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

rooms, superintendent's quarters, and rooms for boxing, wrestling, 
fencing, and other forms of exercise. The director and his as- 
sistants are in constant attendance to give all those who desire 
it the benefit of their advice and instruction. The gymnasium 
during term time is open from lo a. m. until lo p. m. In va- 
cation the visitor must procure a permit of admission from the 
office of the Curator of Grounds and Buildings. North of the 
gymnasium and connected with it stands 

Stafford Little Hall, the gift of the late Henry Stafford Little 
of the class of 1844. This handsomely appointed dormitory, 
erected in 1 899-1 902 at a cost of ^200,000, extends from the 
gymnasium to the gateway near the southern end of Blair Hall, 
and provides accommodations for one hundred and fifty men. 
Like the other buildings of this splendid group Little Hall is a 
lasting monument to the ability of Messrs. Cope and Stewardson. 
In an appreciative article upon the work of this firm, recently 
published in the Architectural Record, Mr. Ralph Adams Cram, 
the Boston critic, says of Blair and Little Halls : 

" It is in Princeton, however, that the climax is reached, at all 
events so far as the scholastic work is concerned. ... If there 
is anything more poetic, collegiate, racial and logical than the 
composition of these two buildings, so far at least as the product 
of the last four centuries is concerned, I do not know what it is. 
The thing is neither monastic nor mediaeval, it is without affec- 
tation or theatrical quality. It strikes exactly the right note, it is 
sufficiently British, sufficiently American, a perfect model of 
sound design and impeccable theories." East of Little is 

Edwards Hall. It was erected in 1880 and named in honor of 
President Jonathan Edwards. Its accommodations are for eighty 
occupants. 

******** 

Upper and Lower Pyne, two dormitories not on the Univer- 




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GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 7/ 

sity grounds, stand upon Nassau Street facing the front campus. 
They were built in 1 896-97 from the plans of Raleigh C. Gilder- 
sleeve of New York, and are in pleasing contrast to the con- 
ventional buildings along the street. Mr. Gildersleeve thus de- 
scribes them : 

" Upper and Lower Pyne strongly recall the old buildings in 
Chester, England, and harmonize with the University buildings 
which have been erected of recent years. The first stories are 
built of dark red brick with chestnut posts and girders. The 
upper stories, which overhang the street, are of half-timber con- 
struction. The roofs are of red slate. The mouldings and carv- 
ing show that quaint mixture of German, Flemish, and Italian 
Renaissance, with the strong English Gothic feeling asserting 
itself in the construction and in the essentials." 

There are in Upper Pyne some fifteen apartments, affording 
accommodations for about thirty men. The building is privately 
owned. Lower Pyne, one of the regular University dormitories, 
is the gift of Mr. M. Taylor Pyne, '"JJ. It accomodates about 
twenty men. 

The Hill Dormitory, also privately owned, was erected in 
1904 by Mr. Harry A. Hill, of Trenton, at a cost of $50,000. It 
stands on University Place near the station of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad. It was built primarily as a dormitory for members of 
the Freshman class and has been designed to accomodate forty- 
five men. 

The Fitz Randolph Gateway, erected in 1905 is the gift of 
the late Augustus Van Wickle of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, in 
memory of his ancestor, Nathaniel Fitz Randolph, who donated 
the ground on which Nassau Hall stands. Built along the main 
street and in front of the original bit of campus, the Fitz Ran- 
dolph Gateway is a fitting memorial to this earliest Princeton 
benefactor. The plans for its construction were prepared by 



yS THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

McKim, Mead, and White of New York. It was erected at a 
cost of ^20,000. 

The central gateway, forming the main entrance to the cam- 
pus, has been placed directly in front of the steps of Nassau 
Hall. The two central posts, five feet square and twenty-four 
feet high, bear the arms of the University and are surmounted 
by two eagles carved from stone. On either side are smaller 
gateways placed between flanking posts. Gateways have also 
been placed at each end of the fence. The fence itself, hke the 
gates, is of iron artistically wrought. It is supported upon a base 
of granite and limestone thus giving it a height of ten feet. 

The Lake, made possible through the generosity of Mr. 
Andrew Carnegie, will prove a welcome addition to the many 
attractions of the University. By the construction of a dam at 
Kingston the combined waters of Stony Brook and the Millstone 
River are to be backed up to the lower border of the campus at 
Princeton, thus providing a sheet of water about three and a half 
miles in length and 800 feet across at its widest point. The 
towpath of the Delaware and Raritan Canal will be the southern 
bank and the elevated ground bordering the old highway to 
Kingston will form the other border. The water, we are told, 
will be kept alive by the inflow from the two rivers and several 
lesser streams, and is to be stocked with game fish. There are 
to be several handsome bridges over the Lake and it is proposed 
to construct a driveway along its northern bank. Work upon 
the Lake is already well under way and another spring, it is 
hoped, will witness its completion. 

McCosh Hall. Plans are now being prepared for a new build- 
ing to be called McCosh Hall, in honor of the late President 
James McCosh. It is to be used for lectures and recitations. 
The cost will be upwards of a quarter of a million which has al- 
ready been secured. McCosh Hall will stand on the field back 



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GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 79 

of Marquand Chapel and will be parallel with McCosh Walk, 
forming one side of a new quadrangle to be completed in the 
future. It will be a long structure, in the Tudor Gothic style of 
architecture so effectively employed in the buildings erected dur- 
ing the past decade, and will probably be built of brownstone in 
harmony with its neighbors. 

The building will contain a large hall, with a seating capacity 
for six hundred persons ; also one for four hundred, one for two 
hundred and twenty, and one for one hundred and fifty persons. 
In addition there will be fourteen other rooms, capable of seating 
between fifty and seventy-five men each, and twenty pro-seminary 
rooms, each of about two hundred square feet, for private work 
with preceptors. 



UPPERCLASS CLUBS AND THE UNIVERSITY 
ATHLETIC GROUNDS 



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UPPERCLASS CLUBS AND THE UNIVERSITY 
ATHLETIC GROUNDS 

Having completed the tour of the University grounds and 
buildings the visitor will no doubt be glad to see something of 
the athletic grounds, if indeed that has not been the immediate 
object of his visit to Princeton. Prospect Avenue has therefore 
been selected as the route to the University Athletic Field as it 
will afford your guide the opportunity of pointing out the various 
upperclass clubhouses along that street. 

The upperclass clubs are a distinctive feature of undergraduate 
life at Princeton. One hundred years ago a common dining-hall 
sufficed for the hundred and odd students in attendance, but as 
the years passed and the Institution gained in numbers the plan 
of eating in common, or " the commons," as it came to be known, 
was found to be unprofitable and unpopular and was therefore 
discontinued. The result was that numerous eating clubs were 
organized among the undergraduates, who in groups of a dozen 
or more gathered at the table of some popular boarding house 
mistress, or leased separate rooms which they conducted under 
their own management. This custom has enabled many a 
student with slender means to earn his living by catering for 
such a club, and it is a splendid evidence of the democracy at 
Princeton that an undergraduate loses no caste by reason of such 
occupation. Indeed, it has happened that a student thus earn- 

83 



84 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

ing his way through college, has been not only popular in his 
club but has received that greatest of undergraduate distinctions 
— the class presidency. 

From such beginnings have developed the present group of 
upperclass clubs, who own and maintain attractive homes and 
who choose their members from the two higher classes in the 
University. Originally by reason of its seclusive and attractive 
situation, and now by the immutable law of college custom. 
Prospect Avenue has been selected as the site for a number of 
clubhouses, which range from the modest little house by the 
'Varsity Field, where several of the strongest clubs have had 
their beginnings, to the luxurious homes of the older organizations. 

Crossing the campus the visitor will find the entrance to the 
Avenue on Washington Road in front of the new Seventy-nine 
Hall. The first house on the left, or northern side of the street, 
is the residence of Professor Brackett, head of the Department 
of Electrical Engineering in the University ; opposite on the 
southern corner, stands the 

Campus Club, organized in 1900. The house, formerly the 
residence of Professor West, was occupied by the Club in 1901. 
Its membership at present numbers thirty-one. The second house 
on the same side of the street is the 

Quadrangle Club. The Quadrangle Club was organized in 
1 90 1 and now has a membership of thirty-four. Across the 
street, next to Professor Brackett's house, is the 

Observatory of Instruction, built in 1878, and connected 
with it is the residence of Professor Lovett, head of the Depart- 
ment of Astronomy. The equipment of the Observatory in- 
cludes an equatorial telescope of nine and a half inches aperture, 
made by the Clarks, with a full complement of spectroscopic and 
other accessory instruments, a nine-inch reflector, a four-inch 
telescope, two transit instruments with three-inch telescopes, a 




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UPPERCLASS CLUBS AND THE ATHLETIC GROUNDS 85 

meridian circle, and a three-inch prime-vertical instrument. There 
are, in addition, several clocks and chronometers, and a number 
of sextants and other subsidiary apparatus required for carrying 
out the work of instruction in the Department. Next to the 
Quadrangle Club, on the southern side of the street, is the 

Cannon Club, organized in 1895. They have at present a 
membership of thirty-five. Adjoining the Cannon Club is the 
residence of Mrs, McCosh, and next to it, the fifth house from 
Washington Road on the south side of the street, stands the home 
of the 

Ivy Club. Ivy, the oldest of the upperclass clubs, was organ- 
ized in May, 1879, and was later (1883) incorporated under the 
laws of the State. The first club building stood upon the op- 
posite side of the street, upon what is now the property of the 
Colonial Club. The present handsome clubhouse was erected 
in 1897 from the designs of Cope and Stewardson. The A rc/n- 
tectural Record, commenting upon the work of this firm, calls it 
a " consummate example of consistent domestic building." The 
undergraduate membership of the Ivy Club for the present year 
(1904-05) is twenty-five, and there are now 379 members of 
the Club living. Directly opposite Ivy, on the north side of the 
street, stands the 

Colonial Club. The Colonial Club was organized by the 
Classes of 1893 ^rid 1894, in their Junior and Sophomore years, 
respectively, and began life in the old house on Nassau Street, 
next to Red House which was then Evelyn College. In the fall 
of 1897 the Club moved into its present home on Prospect Ave- 
nue. The membership for the current year is thirty-one. Next 
below the Colonial stands the 

Tiger Inn. This Club was organized in 1890, as "The Inn," 
which later became the " Tiger Inn." For some years, until the 
completion of its fine clubhouse on Prospect Avenue, it occupied 



86 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

the University cottage, on University Place near the Observatory. 
The present building, in the English half-timbered style of the 
Elizabethan period, was erected in 1895 from the designs of 
G. Howard Chamberlin of New York. The Club is now prepar- 
ing to make a considerable addition to the house in order to ac- 
comodate graduate members who visit Princeton at various 
times during the year. The membership for the current year 
( 1 904-05 ) is thirty. Returning to the southern side of the street 
the visitor will find the new house of the 

University Cottage Club next to the Ivy Club. The Cottage 
Club was organized informally by the Class of 1888 in its Sopho- 
more year, 1886, with headquarters in the University Cottage, 
on the campus by the Observatory. In December, 1889, it was 
incorporated as " The University Cottage Club of Princeton, 
New Jersey." The Club continued to occupy the cottage, until 
the spring of 1892 when it removed to a new house which had 
been built on Prospect Avenue. In 1904, finding the old home 
much too small for the Club's needs, the erection of the present 
handsome structure was undertaken. The new building, now com- 
pleted, is from the designs of McKim, Mead, and White, of New 
York, and has been built under the supervision of Mr. Charles F. 
McKim, of that firm. The present undergraduate membership 
of the Club is twenty-four. The house next below, on the same 
side of the street, is the home of the 

Cap and Gown Club, organized in 1891. The first house 
which they occupied has since been moved over on Olden Street 
opposite the 'Varsity Field. The present attractive clubhouse 
was built in 1897 from the designs of W. R. Emerson of Boston. 
There are now thirty-two members. Across the street, next to 
the Tiger Inn, stands the 

Elm Club. The Elm Club was founded in 1895. The com- 
modious house which they now occupy was built in 1901, from 



UPPERCLASS CLUBS AND THE ATHLETIC GROUNDS 8/ 

the designs of Raleigh C. Gildersleeve of New York, the archi- 
tect also of the Pyne buildings on Nassau Street, Their under- 
graduate membership at present is thirty-five men. Behind 
the Elm Club, on the street which runs along the front of the 
'Varsity Field, stands the 

Terrace Club, organized in 1904. The house which they oc- 
cupy originally stood on Prospect Avenue, and was designed for 
the Cap and Gown Club by Thomas O. Speir, '87. The mem- 
bership of the Terrace Club for the present year is twenty-six. 
Returning to the Avenue, the fifth house below the Cap and 
Gown Club is the home of the 

Charter Club. Charter was organized in 1901 and moved 
into their present clubhouse in 1903. The house was built from 
the designs of Mr. David Adler of the class of 1904, a member 
of the Club. There are now (1904-05) thirty-seven undergrad- 
uate members. Next below is the 

Key and Seal Club, founded in 1904. Their membership 
(1904-05) numbers twenty. Below the Key and Seal Club 
stands the 

Tower Club. Tower was organized in 1902, and now occupies 
the former home of the Cottage Club, which was moved to its 
present location and purchased by the Club in 1904. They have 
a membership of thirty-six. Returning to Olden Street, which 
runs from Prospect Avenue to Nassau Street, along the front of 
the University Field, the visitor will find the 

University Athletic Clubhouse,* at the corner of Olden 
Street and the Avenue. This building, the gift of Professor 
Henry Fairfield Osborn, 'yj, now of Columbia University, was 
completed in 1892 from the plans of Thomas Oliphant Speir, '87. 

* The description of the University athletic grounds and buildings has been taken, 
for the most part, from " Athletics at Princeton ; A History," edited by J. H. F. 
Moffatt, 1900, and Frank Presbrey, '79. New York, 1901. 



88 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

It was designed to furnish convenient quarters for the University 
athletic teams while in training. Here, during the height of the 
season, the players take their meals under the watchful eye of 
the trainer, and here they meet for conferences with the coaches 
and advisors. Above the entrance a shield of terra-cotta bears 
the inscription "1891, University Athletic Club." Passing 
through the oaken door the visitor enters a reception hall, better 
known as the Trophy Room. The walls of this room are cov- 
ered with banners and pennants, significant of many victories. 
On the left are racks filled with the baseballs and footballs used 
in championship games; those won from Harvard are painted 
crimson, and those from Yale blue, with the score in gilt let- 
ters. The trophies will later be moved to their permanent 
quarters in the Trophy Hall of the Gymnasium. Facing the 
doorway is a large fireplace, above which has been placed the 
battle-cry of the followers of the Prince of Orange, — " Oranje 
Boven," which interpreted means " the orange above." Broad 
double doors lead from this room to the large dining-rooms on 
both sides. Here may be seen numerous photographs of former 
Princeton teams which cover the walls. On the second floor 
are committee rooms, bed rooms for the coaches and others, and 
in the basement are placed the kitchens and the cook's quarters. 
Continuing along Olden Street the visitor will find the main en- 
trance to 

University Field, at the foot of William Street. The gate- 
way is the gift of Mr. Ferris S. Thompson, '88. It was erected 
in 1888 from the designs of J. B. Lord, '79. Entering the Field 
the visitor will fijid the covered grand stand in the north east 
corner, directly behind the home-plate of the baseball diamond. 
This stand, recently enlarged, is the gift of Colonel and Mrs. 
John J. McCook, of New York. The clock in the peak of the 
roof was presented by the Glee Club of 1890. Southward along 




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UPPERCLASS CLUBS AND THE ATHLETIC GROUNDS 89 

the straightaway track, 220 yards in length, built in 1896 through 
the kindness of Mr, Robert Garrett, '97, stands the University 
Field House and "cage." In the fall of 1887 the captain of the 
baseball nine stated at a mass meeting that a building in which 
the men could practice during the winter months was necessary 
to insure the success of the team. At that time the only place 
where the men could get a little indoor training was in the base- 
ment of the old gymnasium, which was most unsatisfactory. As 
a result of this appeal a wooden cage costing 1^2,400 was erected 
by the alumni during the winter of 1888. The building, how- 
ever, was ill-fated for hardly had it been completed before a vio- 
lent windstorm completely demolished it. It was then decided 
to build a permanent structure of brick and iron, and after some 
delay the present cage was completed during the winter of 
1889-90 at a cost of more than ;^8,ooo, subscribed in part by 
the Football and Baseball Associations and the Glee Club, and 
partly by generous contributions from the alumni and under- 
graduates. The building is partially heated and contains a clear 
and well-lighted floor space one hundred and forty feet in length 
by sixty in width. The Field House, containing dressing-rooms, 
lockers and baths for the University and visiting teams, stands 
along the cinder track in front of the cage, with which it is con- 
nected by a covered passageway. It was erected in 1 892 at a cost 
of ^7,000, generously provided by the alumni. The open foot- 
ball stand on the western side of the Field was erected in 1900 
and is the result of alumni subscription. When the Yale game 
is scheduled at Princeton (it is now played alternately here and at 
New Haven) the football field is enclosed by great stands which 
have a seating capacity for about 2 5 ,000 persons. After the game 
the stands on the southern and eastern sides of the " gridiron," 
which are of a temporary character, are removed until another 
season of championship games is at hand. 



90 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

The present field was secured in 1876 mainly through the ef- 
forts of a committee of undergraduates, who succeeded in inducing 
the University Hotel Company, then at the height of its pros- 
perity, to purchase the tract for a vegetable garden and allow the 
students the use of half of it for an athletic field. This was 
forthwith done, nominally by the Hotel Company, but in reality 
through the efforts of WilUam Libbey, 'tj^ who was at that 
time both chairman of the undergraduate committee and a junior 
director of the Hotel Company. A part of the property was then 
graded and otherwise put in condition and leased in 1877 to the 
student athletic association. The home-plate was put at the south- 
east corner, so that the balls were batted toward the entrance, 
and here also was built a small clubhouse, containing a reception- 
room and a somewhat smaller dressing-room. Adjoining it was 
a covered stand capable of seating about two hundred and fifty 
persons, at that remote period considered a large crowd of spec- 
tators. In 1888 the property was transferred to the University, 
together with the University Hotel, as an endowment of the E. 
M. Museum in Nassau Hall. 

Since that day the Field has been enlarged from time to time, 
mainly through the generosity of the alumni and later through 
the capable management of the funds of the University Athletic 
Association, until the grounds, which are among the finest in the 
country, have been brought to their present state of perfection. 
The grounds are now large enough to permit of several games of 
either baseball or football being played simultaneously which 
sometimes occurs when the new candidates are being " tried out " 
in the early spring or fall. The Field is the scene of all the 
University athletic contests and games held in Princeton. 




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THE TOWN 



IV 

THE TOWN 

Apart from its two institutions the town of Princeton has a 
memorable history of its own. One hundred and twenty-five 
years ago it held a position second to none in importance in the 
colony. Twice it was chosen as the seat of state government 
and once it served as the Nation's capital. Of the five Signers 
from New Jersey, two were from Princeton ; one a graduate of 
the College and the other its honored head. Its exposed position 
upon the great highroad and its early and unhesitating opposition 
to the tyranny of the mother country soon brought about its ears 
the fury of the war cloud, and though it suffered most in that 
bitter struggle its honor was of the greatest. It was at Princeton 
Washington struck the blow for liberty that turned the tide of 
war and inspired hope in a desponding people, and it was fitting 
that at Princeton he should receive a nation's grateful acknowl- 
edgment of his services in establishing their independence. Since 
the Revolution the town, as such, has not been conspicuous, but 
in its institutions its influence has continued to be felt throughout 
the country. 

Two hundred and twenty-five years ago the tract of land 
whereon the present town of Princeton stands though not untrav- 
ersed was, nevertheless, unoccupied by white settlers. Perhaps 
the best picture of this wilderness is found in the quaintly worded 
diary of William Edmundson, a travelling minister of the Society 

. 93 



94 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

of Friends, who while on his way across the State passed through 
this region in 1 675 . " We hired an Indian to guide us," writes 
the traveller, " but he took us wrong and left us in the woods. 
When it was late we alighted, put our horses to grass and kindled 
a fire by a little brook, convenient for water to drink, but we were 
at a great loss concerning the way, being all strangers in the 
wilderness. Richard Hartshorn advised to go back to Rarington 
River, about ten miles back as was supposed, to find a small 
landing-place from New York, from whence there was a small 
path that led to Delaware Falls. So we rode back and in some 
time found the landing-place and little path ; there the two friends 
committed us to the Lord's guidance and went back. We trav- 
elled that day and saw no tame creatures. At night we kindled a 
fire in the wilderness and lay by it as we used to do in such 
journeys. Next day about nine in the morning by the good 
hand of God we came well to the Falls and by His providence 
found there an Indian man, a woman and a boy with a canoe ; so 
we hired him for some wampampeg to help us over in the 
canoe." 

The landing-place upon the Raritan alluded to was, in all 
probability, near the present town of New Brunswick, the 
Falls of the Delaware were those at Trenton, and the Indian 
path in later years became the main route of travel across the 
State, the old King's Highway, of which Nassau and Stockton 
streets were a small though important part. 

Perhaps the first settler in the neighborhood of Princeton, 
certainly the first of whom there is an authentic record, was a 
Dr. Greenland. His estate, later known as Castle Howard,* ap- 

* The stone portion of the old Castle Howard house now standing was built by 
Captain William Howard, a retired officer of the British army, who resided there 
for some years previous to the Revolution, and from whom the place takes its 
name. " Captain Howard was a decided Whig," says Mr. Hageman, the historian 
of Princeton, " but was laid up with the gout, which during the Revolution con- 



THE TOWN 95 

pears upon Reid's map of the Millstone and Raritan rivers, made 
in 1685 for the proprietors. It lay about a mile to the eastward 
of the present University grounds. A son-in-law of Greenland's, 
one Daniel Brinson, was also living in this neighborhood at about 
the same time. His will, bearing date 1690, devised his plan- 
tation, near the present town of Kingston, to his son, who bore 
the somewhat unusual name of Barefoot Brinson. This Bare- 
foot, by the way, appears to have been a man of parts for his 
name is frequently met with in the records of Somerset County, 
which he served for many years in the office of sheriff. 

The true settlement at Princeton, however, may be said to 
date from the purchase by William Penn in the year 1693 of a 
large tract of land lying in and about the present town. Through 
his influence a little colony of six Quaker families removed here 
in 1696 to establish free and safe homes and to escape the per- 
secution so commonly their lot in New England and the other 
provinces. They were the families of Benjamin Clarke, Wilham 
Olden, Joseph Worth, John Hornor, Richard Stockton, and Ben- 
jamin Fitz Randolph. All, save Joseph Worth, who was from 
Woodbridge, came from the township of Piscataway, in Middlesex 
County, New Jersey. It was not upon the site of the present 
town that they built their homes but about a little stream toward 
the west, which one of their number, Richard Stockton, called 

fined him to his room. His wife was of different sentiments, and he was often ex- 
ceedingly vexed by her entertainment of British officers, whose conversation was 
very obnoxious to him; so that he had painted in large letters over the mantel- 
piece in his room, ' no tory talk here.' This, though covered with white- 
wash, was plainly discernible twenty years after." In 1785 the place was sold to 
the Reverend Philip Stockton, a brother of Richard Stockton the Signer. Ten 
years later it passed into the possession of Colonel Erkuries Beatty, a soldier of 
some distinction, who added considerably to the original house. Castle Howard 
stands upon the main road to Kingston, the old King's Highway ; it is the first 
house upon the right after passing the Preparatory School. It is now the property 
of Mr. Howard Russell Butler of New York. 



96 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

Stony Brook in remembrance of another Stony Brook upon the 
land of a former dwelling on Long Island. 

Benjamin Clarke was the son of Benjamin Clarke a stationer 
of London. Together they emigrated to America in 1683 and 
lived for a time in Perth Amboy and then at Piscataway. In 
1696 the younger Benjamin bought of Thomas Warne twelve 
hundred acres of land lying along the Brook and near the road- 
way. This in later years became the battle-field of Princeton. 
Here, upon the site of the present home of Mr. Henry E. Hale, 
he built a dwelling house which we are told was the first erected 
in the new settlement. In 1709 Benjamin Clarke conveyed to 
Richard Stockton and others, in trust, nine and three-fifths acres 
of land which he desired should be used as a burial ground and 
as a place upon which to build a 

Meeting House for the Society of Friends. On this ground 
in the year 1 726 a stone building was erected in which meetings 
for worship were regularly held until 1 760 when, being somewhat 
out of repair, it was rebuilt upon the original foundations. Close 
by the meeting house and within a walled enclosure is the burying 
ground. Here lie the remains of the first settlers and five gen- 
erations of their descendants, their graves with but few excep- 
tions unmarked by stone or monument, for the Quakers did not 
hold it fitting to perpetuate the dead. Among them is the un- 
marked grave of Richard Stockton, the Signer of the Declaration. 
In addition to their spiritual needs the Society was careful to 
provide for the education of their children, and for many years 
maintained a private school under their exclusive control. The 
schoolhouse, which was taken down in 1901, stood near the 
meeting house. 

Wilham Olden, a surveyor by profession and the second of 
the original settlers, was a brother-in-law of Benjamin Clarke. 
From him he purchased in 1696 four hundred acres lying north 



THE TOWN 97 

of the Clarke estate and between the road and the Brook. Upon 
this land a descendant, Governor Charles Smith Olden, built in 
1832 the beautiful " Drumthwacket," now the residence of Mr. 
M. Taylor Pyne. 

Joseph Worth, also a brother-in-law of Benjamin Clarke, came 
to Stony Brook from Woodbridge, New Jersey, in 1 696. A year 
after his arrival he purchased of Clarke some two hundred acres 
lying upon the southern side of the stream. Here in 17 14 
Thomas Potts, a miller from Pennsylvania, constructed two grist- 
mills under one roof, and a bolting mill. A good miller this 
Thomas Potts may have been ; a man of affairs, however, he was 
not, for within a year he had conveyed a half interest in his 
property to Joseph Worth and to Joseph Chapman, a carpenter. 
A year later he sold the remaining half interest to Joseph Worth, 
who in 1 72 1 also acquired Chapman's share and the full owner- 
ship of the mills. A part of the original building is standing and 
yet bears the name of " Worth's Mill." The old stones are 
still turning, the mill having been in constant operation for near 
two hundred years. 

John Homor, the fourth settler, came from Piscataway in 
1696. He purchased of Dr. John Gordon in that year a tract 
of four hundred acres, bounded by the present road leading from 
Queenston to the Aqueduct Mills on the east, by Washington 
Road upon the west, and lying between Nassau Street and 
Stony Brook. Homor appears to have early appreciated the 
value of Princeton real estate, for in 1722 he had acquired all the 
land upon the opposite side of the road as well, extending his pos- 
sessions probably as far west as Witherspoon Street. It was he 
who joined with John Stockton and Thomas Leonard in a bond 
for one thousand pounds, which, with the land contributed by 
Nathaniel Fitz Randolph, induced the Trustees to " fix the College 
at Princetown." The descendants of John Hornor appear to 

G 



98 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

have gathered about the eastern end of the town, which has for 
many years borne the name of " Jug Town " from the fact that 
the Hornor family long maintained a pottery there for the manu- 
facture of jugs. This end of the village is also known by the 
more elegant but less familiar name of Queenston. John Hor- 
nor lived to a good old age and died, we are told, leaving his 
family a fair name and some considerable wealth. Although a 
Quaker he was possessed of a broad and liberal mind, which is 
well shown by the interest he took in the affairs of the College, 
whose influence, to say the least, was strongly Presbyterian. 

Richard Stockton, the Princeton settler, was a son of Richard 
Stockton of Burlington, New Jersey, who came of an ancient 
family of the town of Stockton on the river Tees, in Durham, 
England. This Richard, who came to Princeton, had fled with 
his parents from the mother country to escape the persecution 
which had befallen them upon the restoration of the house of 
Stuart. He settled at first upon a plantation near Flushing on 
Long Island, but in 1696 moved to Princeton and bought of Dr. 
John Gordon four hundred acres of land, bounded on the east 
by Washington Road and the land of John Hornor, on the west 
by the Olden tract, and on the north and south by the main 
street and Stony Brook. This included all of what is now the 
University campus and the grounds of the Theological Seminary. 
Perhaps the 

Barracks, the old stone house upon Edgehill Street which 
stood near the western boundary of his estate, was the original 
dwelling of Richard Stockton. Of this there exists no proof but 
from the circumstances of its position and great age it is at least 
a fair conclusion. In the Revolution, and probably also in the 
French and Indian war, the Barracks was used as a quarters for 
soldiers, from which fact it took its name. 

In the year 1701 Stockton purchased of William Penn, for a 




t/5 

u 
OS 

H 



THE TOWN 99 

consideration of jCgoo, some five thousand five hundred acres, 
situated for the most part upon the northern side of the main road, 
or Nassau and Stockton streets, and extending from the old 
Province line beyond Stony Brook upon the west to a point near 
Kingston upon the east, and bounded northward by the " land of 
Peter Sonmans." By virtue of these large possessions Richard 
Stockton held a prominent place among the early settlers. He 
died in 1 709 and devised his estate to his six sons and to his 
widow, Susanna Stockton. John, the fifth son, inherited that 
portion of the property described in the will as the " homestead 
plantation," now 

Morven, and he in turn bequeathed it to his son Richard, the 
Signer. This fine old house, the oldest in the town with the 
possible exception of the Barracks, was erected between the years 
1 70 1 and 1 709. It has been enlarged and added to by subsequent 
generations and is still a Stockton residence. During the Revolu- 
tion Morven, then the home of Richard Stockton the Signer of 
the Declaration of Independence, suffered the usual treatment at 
the hands of the Hessians and British. The house was pillaged 
and the estate laid waste ; the furniture was destroyed, the wine 
cellars rifled, and the valuable library, including the papers of the 
Signer, committed to the flames. The plate and other valuable 
articles had been packed in three boxes and buried in the woods 
at some distance from the house, but through treachery the place 
of concealment was discovered and two of the boxes fell into the 
hands of the soldiery. The remaining one escaped and was re- 
stored to the family. For a time the British general. Lord Howe, 
made the house his headquarters. During the occupation by the 
enemy Richard Stockton had sought refuge at the house of a 
friend in Monmouth County. Here, however, he was seized by 
the Tories and sent a prisoner to New York where he suffered 
such ill treatment that Congress authorized Washington to inquire 

I cf C. 



lOO THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

of Lord Howe whether he chose " that this shall be the future 
rule for treating all such on both sides as the fortunes of war 
may place in the hands of either party." Stockton was afterwards 
released. 

Morven has sheltered many distinguished personages. Among 
its owners were Richard the Signer, whom we have noted, Rich- 
ard the " Duke," and Robert the Commodore. Washington was 
an intimate friend of the Signer's wife, Annis Boudinot, the sister 
of Elias Boudinot, and he is said to have been her guest upon more 
than one occasion.- Robert, the Commodore, entertained many 
men of note, among others, Daniel Webster and President Fill- 
more. Behind the house is a great horse-chestnut tree, said to 
be one of the largest of its kind in the world. Bordering the 
street, in front of what is now the Princeton Inn, stands a splendid 
row of catalpas, planted before the days of the Revolution 
and which are said to bloom patriotically upon the Fourth of 
July. 

Benjamin Fitz Randolph, the sixth of the early settlers, came 
to Princeton from Piscataway between 1696 and 1699. About 
the year 1 704 he purchased of Richard Stockton one hundred 
acres upon the southern side of the main road, the greater part 
of which is now included in the University Campus, and a year 
or so later he also bought of the Stockton tract that portion ly- 
ing between the present Bayard Lane and Witherspoon Street. 
Nathaniel, the seventh son of Benjamin, was born in Princeton, 
November 11, 1703, and appears to have inherited the greater 
portion of his father's estate. He was a man of some prominence 
in the town and gave the four and one half acres upon which the 
first College building was erected, in addition to " ;£"20, besides 
time and expenses for several years together," as we learn from 
his private journal. A gateway and fence marking this plot of 
ground have recently been erected in memory of Nathaniel Fitz 



THE TOWN lOI 

Randolph, whi interest and liberality played so important a 
part in the setl.cment of the College at Princeton. 

Such is a brief sketch of the six families who came to Prince- 
ton prior to i/oo, and who may be regarded as the founders of 
the town. The history of Princeton during its first half century 
is a record of quiet growth and development. An occasional leaf 
from some old diary or traveller's notebook gives us a passing 
glimpse of the period. From the private journal of Nathaniel 
Fitz Randolph we learn that " Princeton was first named at the 
raising of the first house (not the first in the town, however), 
built there by James Leonard, A. D. 1724. Whitehead Leon- 
ard the first child born at Princeton (under its new name), 1725." 
There have been several explanations offered to account for the 
origin of the name, the most likely of which is that the name 
Princeton, or its earlier form *' Prince-Town," was suggested by 
the village of Kings-Town, now Kingston, which lay a few miles 
to the east. Kingston was probably so called from its position 
on the King's Highway and is undoubtedly older in name than 
Princeton. The taste for royal affinities seems to have been 
strong with these good people for we find between New Bruns- 
wick and Trenton the villages of Kingston, Queenston, Princeton, 
and Princessville, succeeding each other in the order named along 
the old highway. It has also been suggested that the town was 
named in honor of the Prince of Orange, whose memory was 
cherished by many who had suffered oppression in Great Britain 
and on the Continent, not a few of whom had taken refuge in 
the Province and in the neighborhood of Princeton. 

Professor Kalm, of the University of Abo in Swedish Finland, 
visited the colonies in 1 748 and thus describes his journey from 
Trenton to New Brunswick : " The country through which we 
passed (between Trenton and Princeton) was for the greater part 
level, though sometimes there were some long hills ; some parts 



I02 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

were covered with trees, but far the greater part of the country 
was without woods ; on the other hand, I never saw any place in 
America, the towns excepted, so well peopled. An old man who 
lived in the neighborhood and accompanied us for some part of 
the road, however, assured me that he could well remember the 
time when between Trenton and New Brunswick there was not 
above three farms, and he reckoned it was about fifty and some 
odd years ago. . . . About ten o'clock we came to Princetown, 
which is situated in a plain. Most of the houses are built of 
wood, and are not contiguous, so that there are gardens and pas- 
tures between them. As these parts were sooner inhabited by 
Europeans than Pennsylvania, the woods were likewise more cut 
away, and the country more cultivated, so that one might have im- 
agined himself to be in Europe." 

Kalm was much impressed by the fine orchards that he saw 
about Princeton. " Near almost every farm was a spacious or- 
chard full of peaches, and apple trees in such quantities as to 
cover nearly the whole surface. Part of it they left to rot, since 
they could not take it all in and consume it. Wherever we 
passed by we were always welcome to go into the fine orchards 
and gather our pockets full of the choicest fruit, without the pos- 
sessor so much as looking after it." 

On the 29th of July, 1 754, ground was broken for the first build- 
ing of the College of New Jersey, Nassau Hall, and in November, 
1756, President Burr with seventy students came from Newark 
and took possession of the new structure. In 1758a petition 
of the people of Princeton was presented to the House of Rep- 
resentatives of the Province praying for the establishment of 
regular barracks in order to relieve the townsfolk of the burden 
and annoyance of having the British troops, then engaged in the 
French and Indian war, quartered upon them. It is not known 
whether the petition, which was from the pen of Richard Stock- 



THE TOWN 103 

ton the Signer, ever accomplished its object ; if so the old stone 
house on Edgehill Street, before alluded to as the " Barracks," 
may have been built in answer to this request. The petition 
bears the signatures of some forty of Princeton's most prom- 
inent townsmen. 

The opening of the year 1775 found the shadows of the war 
cloud, which hung thickly over the Province of Massachusetts 
Bay, lengthening over the whole land. Committees of corre- 
spondence had brought the colonies into a closer sympathy than 
they had known before and the tyrannical acts of the British 
Ministry were everywhere received with tokens of disgust and 
rage. The people of New Jersey applauded the spirited resist- 
ance of their brethren of Boston and, animated by their example, 
bethought themselves of measures of defense. The news of 
the grim tragedy of Lexington Common, however, awakened the 
colony to a realizing sense of the danger with which it was con- 
fronted. Hardly were the tidings known before the Committee 
of Safety, acting upon the advice of Princeton and Perth Amboy, 
issued a call for a Provincial Congress to consider " ways and 
means for the security of the Province as the exigencies of the 
times required." Among the Princeton delegates to this Con- 
gress, which first met at Trenton upon the twenty-third of May, 
1775, were Jonathan Sergeant and Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant, 
Jonathan Baldwin, Enos Kelsey, and Jonathan Deare. A year 
later another Princeton representative. Dr. John Witherspoon, 
the President of the College, took his seat in the convention. 
Witherspoon had served the State before, as a member of the 
Committee of Correspondence, and had attracted public attention 
as an eloquent and courageous leader by a sermon preached at 
Princeton, " On the dominion of Providence over the passions of 
men," in which he had ably and fearlessly discussed the ques- 
tions of the day. 



I04 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

For eleven days Witherspoon served as a member of the con- 
vention when, having proved an ardent and efficient advocate of 
the cause of liberty, he was sent as a delegate to the Continental 
Congress in Philadelphia. The Provincial Congress before it 
adjourned established a new and independent state government, 
and upon the second of July, 1776, adopted a constitution which 
remained in force until 1844. In the preparation of this im- 
portant document Witherspoon took an active part. 

When the delegates from New Jersey arrived at the National 
Convention in Philadelphia the great question of the Declara- 
tion of Independence was already under discussion. Two of the 
five who represented the State, John Witherspoon and Richard 
Stockton, were from Princeton. One took an active and the 
other a leading part in support of the measure, and both de- 
livered speeches in the closing hours of the debate. Wither- 
spoon, replying to the suggestion of a timid member that the 
time was not yet ripe for so decided a step, answered with 
characteristic vigor, " In my judgment, Sir, we are not only ripe 
but rotting." Later, when the Declaration was under debate 
and Congress wavered " between liberty and slavery," Wither- 
spoon arose and in the words of an eyewitness " cast on the as- 
sembly a look of inexpressible interest and unconquerable de- 
termination." He closed his appeal with the following words : 

" There is a tide in the affairs of men, a nick of time. We 
perceive it now before us. To hesitate is to consent to our 
own slavery. . . . For my own part, of property I have some, of 
reputation more. That reputation is staked, that property is 
pledged on the issue of this contest ; and although these grey 
hairs must soon descend into the sepulchre, I would infinitely 
rather that they descend thither by the hand of the executioner, 
than desert at this crisis the sacred cause of my country." 

The resolution of independence was passed on the second, and 




15 

q 

< 
> 

< 



THE TOWN 105 

the formal Declaration was adopted on the fourth of July, 1776. 
Both Stockton and Witherspoon signed the document, and when 
the news of the great event reached Princeton an impromptu ratifi- 
cation was observed. " Nassau Hall was grandly illuminated," 
writes a correspondent in the Evening Post of Philadelphia, " and 
independency proclaimed under a triple volley of musketry, and 
universal acclamation for the prosperity of the United States, 
with the greatest decorum." 

On the second of July, 1776, as we have seen, the Provincial 
Congress of New Jersey adopted a constitution and assumed for 
the province the title of state, and on August 27th the first 
Legislature under the new constitution assembled in the library 
room of the College building, Nassau Hall. On the 3 1 st of that 
month, having duly organized, they proceeded to the choice of a 
Governor and two distinguished names were presented in nomi- 
nation, — Richard Stockton of Princeton and William Livingston 
of Elizabeth-Town. The result of the first ballot showed that 
the votes were equally divided. Upon the second of September 
Mr. Livingston received a majority and was declared elected. 
The next important business was the adoption of the great seal of 
the State, — " three ploughs in an escutcheon, the supporters. 
Liberty and Ceres, and the crest a horse's head," — which is the 
device in use at the present day. None of the seals of the 
thirteen original states antedates this one, nor does the seal of 
the United States. The stay of the Legislature in Princeton, 
however, was of brief duration. The invasion of the British 
caused them to retire to Trenton, and from Trenton to Burling- 
ton, from Burlington to Pittstown, and from Pittstown to Haddon- 
field, where, there being no place of safety within the State, they 
finally adjourned upon the second of December. 

These were the darkest hours of the Revolution. Washington, 
terribly beaten upon Long Island had brought off the remainder 



I06 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

of his army in safety to New York, where gallantly resisting 
the experienced and disciplined troops of the enemy he had been 
compelled to abandon post after post, suffering a heavy loss in 
men and stores. Retreating across the Hackensack and Passaic 
rivers into New Jersey, Washington with his shattered and dis- 
pirited army reached Princeton upon the night of Sunday, the 
first of December. Comwallis had pursued him as far as New 
Brunswick, beyond which for some unaccountable reason Lord 
Howe had ordered him not to proceed. The delay cost the 
British the campaign, for when a few days later they again took 
up the pursuit Washington had withdrawn his Httle force of less 
than three thousand men in safety across the Delaware. Had 
Comwallis pushed his advantage the subsequent history of the 
Revolution might not have been written. 

Princeton upon the ninth of December fell into the hands of 
the enemy who were everywhere in possession of the State. 
Morven, the home of Richard Stockton, was pillaged, the house 
of Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant was burned, and Tusculum, the 
seat of Dr. Witherspoon, was laid waste. 

Tusculum still stands upon the Witherspoon street road, 
about a mile north of the town. It was built by President 
Witherspoon in 1773 and the date is said to have been carved 
upon its stone walls. The house is exceedingly well built and 
well preserved for one of its age. Its ceilings are high and its 
rooms well arranged. The doors of the parlors are of solid 
mahogany and are said to have been brought from England. In 
1776 Tusculum had been used as headquarters by the British 
regulars stationed in the town, and after the battle of Princeton 
Washington is said to have done" full justice to the breakfast pre- 
pared for the officers of the Fortieth regiment, who in their hasty 
departure had left it untasted. In 1789 Washington passed a 
night in the house as the guest of Dr. Witherspoon, while on his 



THE TOWN 107 

way to his inauguration at New York. The old road which 
leads to the main street opposite Nassau Hall, bears the name of 
Witherspoon in honor of the Doctor's residence upon it. 

The cause of the patriots seemed now in desperate straits. 
Congress, alarmed at the rapid advance of the British, fled to 
Baltimore. Europe had decided that England would speedily 
bring her rebellious colonies to submission, and even Voltaire, 
the ardent sympathizer, had written, " Franklin's troops have 
been beaten by the King of England. Alas ! reason and liberty 
are but poorly received in this world." The critical state of af- 
fairs urged Washington to aggressive measures, and hopeless as 
any attempt on the enemy might seem the situation demanded it. 
The opportunity soon offered. " Christmas-day at night, one 
hour before day," wrote the Commander in Chief, " is the time 
fixed upon for our attempt on Trenton." 

Crossing the river on Christmas night, 1776, Washington fell 
upon the Hessians at Trenton, under the command of Colonel 
Rail, took nine hundred and. fifty prisoners, six guns, and many 
small arms and trophies, and recrossed in safety, having lost but 
two men killed and four wounded. The effect of this brilUant 
stroke can hardly be estimated. It inspired confidence in the 
army and in the ability of its gallant leader, and gave the country 
a hope of ultimate success of which even the most sanguine had 
begun to despair. Congress redoubled its efforts in Washington's 
behalf, and Robert Morris, borrowing on his own credit, sent him 
$50,000. 

On the 3 1 st of December Washington again crossed the Del- 
aware into Jersey. " We are devising such means," he wrote to 
Congress, " as I hope, if they succeed, will add as much or more 
to the distress of the enemy as their defeat at Trenton." Learn- 
ing that the American commander had once more ventured across 
the river, Cornwallis hastened from Princeton on the second of Jan- 



108 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

uary with some seven thousand troops, the flower of the English 
army. The opportunity for which he had long waited had at last 
presented itself and the time had come to administer a defeat 
which would put an end to further resistance. 

Washington had chosen a strong position on the heights south 
of the little Assunpink Creek, which flowed through the outskirts 
of Trenton. This he had carefully fortified, covering the cross- 
ings above and below his position with artillery. About four 
o'clock in the afternoon the van of Cornwallis's army reached 
Trenton and at once attempted to force a passage across the 
creek but were repulsed with considerable loss. The approach of 
darkness caused Cornwallis, much against the advice of his 
Quartermaster General, Sir William Erskine, to postpone further 
attack until the following day, when he doubtless considered it 
would be an easy matter to defeat and capture Washington's un- 
discipUned army. 

The position of the American commander was now critical in 
the extreme. To recross the Delaware in the face of the British 
army was impossible ; retreat in the direction of Trenton was 
equally out of the question. To attempt to cut his way through 
the superior force of his adversary would be to court certain de- 
struction, and the ruin of all hope of American freedom as well. 
Obviously but one course lay open and this Washington was quick 
to perceive. There was, besides the main highway from Prince- 
ton over which the British had advanced, another and less traveled 
route. To gain this road and by a night march reach Princeton 
would not only secure a line of retreat but would also endanger 
New Brunswick, Cornwallis's base of supplies. Sending his 
baggage and some heavy guns to Burlington, for no encumbrance 
on the march could be permitted, and leaving a guard behind to 
keep the camp fires burning, Washington slipped quietly away 
and by two o'clock was safely upon the road. The night was cold 




o 

H 
U 

o 

Q 



Id 



THE TOWN 109 

and dark ; so cold had it grown that the soft and almost impass- 
able roads of the previous day were now hard frozen, enabling 
the artillery to move without difficulty, 

A little past daybreak on the morning of the third of January, 
1777, two British regiments, the Seventeenth and the Fifty-fifth, 
with a troop of light dragoons, under the command of Colonel 
Mawhood, were on the march to join ComwaUis at Trenton. 
They had set off from Princeton before sunrise that they might 
be in at the death of that "old fox " who had at last been cor- 
nered at the Delaware. A part of the command had crossed Stony 
Brook by the old mill and had come to the top of the hill beyond 
when they discovered the advance guard of the patriot army, 
some 350 men under General Mercer, moving up the old Quaker 
Road upon their left. Their astonishment, we are told, was great. 
"They were as much surprised," wrote General Knox, "as if an 
army had dropped perpendicularly upon them." 

Promptly facing about, Mawhood hastily recrossed the stream 
and seeing the advantage of securing the hill above the road on 
which stood the house of a Quaker named William Clarke, at 
once made a dash for it, Mercer, however, percei\'ing the ap- 
proach of the British, aimed for the same point and reached it 
first. Pressing through an orchard he hastily formed his men 
behind a worm fence which enclosed it, and from this slight cover 
poured a volley at close range upon the advancing British, who 
promptly returned the fire and rushed forward with bayonets 
fixed. Twice again the patriots fired and then broke in utter 
confusion, for the bayonets of the trained English soldiery were 
not to be withstood by men who were armed only with old rifles 
and muskets. Mercer, whose horse had been shot from under 
him, refusing to surrender or retreat, was mercilessly bayoneted 
and left for dead upon the field. 

At this moment Washington, who had remained with the main 



no THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

army, observing the route of his advance guard and the eager 
pursuit of the enemy, hurried forward Hitchcock's New England 
brigade and Cadwalader's Philadelphia battalion, who were the 
troops nearest to the field of battle. Placing himself at the head 
of the New Englanders and exposed to a terrible fire he en- 
deavored to rally the disorganized command of General Mercer. 
Failing in this he was seen to rein in his horse between the op- 
posing lines, and with his face toward the enemy to remain im- 
movable. The appeal was not in vain. Again the lines form 
and both sides fire. We are told that Colonel Fitzgerald, Wash- 
ington's aide, drew his hat over his eyes that he might not see 
his beloved commander die. A moment later he looked up 
through the smoke to see the General " alive, unharmed, and 
without a wound," encouraging his men to the attack. The 
division under Mifflin had now come up on the right of Cadwalader, 
and Hand's riflemen, supported by St. Clair, succeeded in driving 
back the Fifty-fifth regiment which up to this time had not taken 
part in the battle. Moulder's battery, posted on the right of the 
house of Thomas Clarke, also did good service. 

Mawhood, pursuing the scattered command of Mercer, suddenly 
found himself confronted by the heavy columns which Washing- 
ton had hastily brought into action. For the first time, perhaps, 
he realized that he had to do with the main American army and 
not with a small detachment as he must at first have supposed. 
Nothing daunted, however, he gallantly reformed his men and 
led them in charge against the battery of Moulder, which had 
opened fire. Staggered by a shower of grape the British were 
driven back with heavy loss, abandoning two brass field pieces, 
which the Americans for want of horses were unable to carry off. 
Mawhood, with the remnant of his command, escaped to Maiden- 
head and succeeded in joining Cornwallis. The Fifty-fifth regi- 
ment which had taken but small part in the fighting, retired 



THE TOWN III 

toward Princeton, where the Fortieth was stationed. Together 
they attempted to hold a ravine on the outskirts of the village, on 
what was then the Springdale farm of Richard Stockton, but be- 
fore they had completed their dispositions for defence the right 
wing of the American army, under General Sullivan, dashed upon 
them and put them to flight. A part of the Fortieth took refuge 
in Nassau Hall, but a few shots from Captain Hamilton's battery 
caused them to surrender and 194 gave themselves up prisoners 
of war. The remainder of the Fifty-fifth and Fortieth regiments, 
abandoning two six pounders, the horses being killed and the axle 
of one of the carriages broken, retreated northward along the 
King's Highway to New Brunswick. 

Hardly was Washington well on the road toward Kingston 
with the spoils of his victory before the advance guard of the 
British army appeared at the other end of town, " in a most in- 
fernal sweat," as General Knox graphically describes it, "run- 
ning, puffing, and blowing and swearing at being so outwitted." In 
the fog of the early morning Lord Cornwallis had been awakened 
to receive the intelligence that the enemy had stolen away in the 
night. Divining the purpose of the American commander he 
had quickly commenced a forced march toward Princeton, 
spurred forward by the thought of the seventy thousand pounds 
and the great amount of stores which lay in the path of Washing- 
ton at Brunswick. About noon he reached the western end of 
the village as the left of the American army passed eastward out 
of sight of Princeton. An iron thirty-two pounder had been 
mounted on an earthwork, which Colonel von Donop's men had 
thrown up a few days before the battle, near the present junction 
of Mercer and Nassau streets, and as the British cautiously ap- 
proached it was set off by some straggling soldiers. This de- 
layed their advance, we are told, for near an hour. 

When Washington reached Kingston he very prudently deter- 



112 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

mined to abandon the prize at New Brunswick for the safer hill 
country about Morristown. Turning sharply to the left by Rocky 
Hill he marched toward Somerset Court House, now Millstone, 
which he reached with the last of his tired army about eleven 
o'clock in the evening. Cornwallis, however, was much too 
anxious as to the fate of his money chest to pay any attention to 
the movements of Washington, and fearing that a force had been 
sent ahead to capture his stores pushed rapidly forward toward 
New Brunswick where he arrived the following morning. 

The British lost in the three engagements which are collec- 
tively known as the battle of Princeton, about 400 killed, 
wounded, and made prisoners ; fully 100 of whom were left dead 
upon the field. Among their officers who were killed or mortally 
wounded were Leslie (a son of the Earl of Levin), Mostyn, and 
McPherson. The American loss was about forty killed and 
wounded. The gallant Mercer was mortally wounded, and Has- 
let, Fleming, Neal, and Shippen were among the killed. Mercer, 
refusing to surrender, had been bayoneted and left for dead upon 
the field. He was found by his aide. Major Armstrong, suffering 
with the cold and his terrible , wounds, and was carried to the 
house of Thomas Clarke, close by the field of battle. Here he 
was tenderly nursed by two Quaker ladies. Miss Hannah and 
Miss Sarah Clarke, and soon after two good neighbors, Thomas 
Olden and Samuel Worth, came in to assist them in caring for 
the wounded General. On the following day Washington, learn- 
ing that Mercer had not been killed as at first reported, sent 
Captain George Lewis, his nephew, and the famous surgeon Ben- 
jamin Rush, under a flag with the request that they be allowed 
to attend him. On the seventh the Doctor reported Mercer 
much improved, and a surgeon on Cornwallis's staff agreed that 
the wounds were not dangerous. General Mercer, however, be- 
ing a physician by profession knew better, and pointed out the 




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hurt which proved fatal. Lingering in pain he breathed his last 
in the arms of his devoted companion, Captain Lewis, on the morn- 
ing of Sunday, January twelfth, 1777. 

The results of the brilliant generalship at Trenton and Prince- 
ton were far-reaching. Washington was pronounced the saviour 
of the country and Congress taking new heart made vigorous 
efforts to strengthen the power of the great commander. In 
Europe the effect was scarcely less marked. " His march 
through our lines," wrote Horace Walpole, " is allowed to be a 
prodigy of generalship." Frederick the Great declared that " the 
achievements of Washington and his little band of compatriots 
between the 25 th of December and the 4th of January, a space 
of ten days, were the most brilliant of any recorded in the annals 
of military achievements." Cornwallis himself, responding to a 
toast at the grand dinner given at the American headquarters 
after the surrender of Yorktown, said, "And when the illustrious 
part that your Excellency has borne in this long and arduous 
contest becomes a matter of history, fame will gather your 
brightest laurels rather from the banks of the Delaware than 
from those of the Chesapeake." 

A visit to the battle-field will prove of interest to the stranger. 
In order to thoroughly cover the ground the best route would 
be to follow Stockton Street, the old King's Highway, to the 
Brook, there turn to the left along the old Quaker Road until 
the Trenton turnpike, or the Mercer Street road, is reached, 
which should be taken back to the town. A few of the Revolution- 
ary buildings are still standing. Close by the roadway (Stockton 
Street) and a little below the residence at Drumthwacket, stands 

Thomas Olden's house,* undoubtedly one of the oldest build- 

* This old house, known as the Drumthwacket Lodge, is believed to have been 
the home of the original settler, William Olden, who came to Princeton in 1696. 
The building is now used as an aviary. 
H 



114 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

ings in the vicinity of the town, though the exact date of its 
erection is not known. From the diary of Thomas Olden we 
learn that the house was standing at the time of the battle, and 
that Washington, riding up to his door on that eventful morning, 
directed that several of the wounded British regulars be cared 
for in the family. The diary also states that twenty wounded 
men were taken into William Clarke's house, not now standing, 
and several more, with General Mercer, were sent to the house 
of Thomas Clarke, the present residence of Mr. Henry E. Hale. 
Opposite Drumthwacket, and north of the road, stands 

Constitution Hill, the residence of Mr. Junius Spencer Mor- 
gan. Although the present house is of recent construction it is 
built upon historic ground. Here, in the old house of Quarter- 
master Robert Stockton, now taken down, General Washington 
breakfasted on the morning of December 2, 1776, while retreat- 
ing before the advancing army of Lord Cornwallis. Here also, 
tradition says, the constitution of the State of New Jersey was 
drafted, which was adopted by the Provincial Congress at Bur- 
lington in 1776. West of Constitution Hill stands 

Edgerstoune, the home of Mr. Archibald D. Russell. This 
handsome house, also of recent construction, was built upon the 
original tract purchased from William Penn by Richard Stockton 
in 1 70 1. The house stands upon the brow of the hill overlook- 
ing Stony Brook and commands a wide view of the surrounding 
country. 

The old stone bridge over the Brook, although not of the 
Revolutionary period, has nevertheless passed the century mark. 
It was built in 1 792 to accommodate the growing travel along the 
King's Highway, at that time the main post road between New 
York and Philadelphia. It was here that the Seventeenth regi- 
ment of his Majesty's foot, under the command of Colonel Maw- 
hood, passed over the Brook on their way to Trenton on the 




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morning of the battle, and here it was that they came hurrying 
back a few minutes later having caught a glimpse of the column 
under Mercer advancing along the Quaker Road, 

The mill which stands close by the bridge has been described 
upon a former page. A part of the building is said to be the 
original mill erected by Thomas Potts in 17 14, It is now the 
property of Mr. Joseph H. Bruere. 

Turning to the left and following the old Quaker Road, which 
runs beside the Brook, the visitor will find the Quaker Meeting 
House and the burying ground near the intersection of the Mer- 
cer Street road. A sketch of this ancient house has also been 
given upon another page. It was near this intersection, although 
the turnpike road (Mercer Street) did not then exist, that Mer- 
cer's command left the highway and made their dash for the hill 
upon which stood the house of William Clarke. There were two 
Clarke houses standing at the time of the battle. That of Wil- 
liam, about whose fences and barns the opening engagement was 
fought, and that of Thomas, toward which the tide of battle later 
rolled, and whither General Mercer was carried. Of the William 
Clarke house nothing now remains. It stood close to the 
Mercer Street road, near the present residence of Mr. H. B. 
Owsley. 

The house of Thomas Clarke, which had been built shortly 
before the battle, is still standing and is at present owned by Mr. 
Henry E. Hale. It is frequently visited by strangers who are 
shown the blood stains on the floor of the room in which Mercer 
died, bullets and bayonets, and other relics of the battle. On the 
lawn in front of the house stands a block of granite bearing a 
bronze tablet, erected in memory of General Mercer by Mercer 
Engine Company Number Three, one of the volunteer fire organ- 
izations of the town. A brass field-piece and an American flag 
are also significant of the memories which cling to the place. 



Il6 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

Further up the road, near the residence of Mr. Owsley, a pyramid 
of iron shells marks the 

Ground where Mercer fell. Here stood the house and bams 
of William Clarke toward which, up the long slope from the 
Brook, both the British and American columns raced ; the former 
across the fields from the mill and the latter from the direction 
of the Quaker Meeting House. From this cover the fierce 
bayonet charge of Mawhood a few minutes later drove his adver- 
sary in confusion. Here Captain Neil of the artillery lost his 
battery and his life, and here, vainly endeavoring to rally their 
men, fell General Mercer and Colonel Haslet mortally wounded. 

The ravine which passes across Mercer Street near the water 
tower and which skirts the northern edge of the golf links was 
the scene of the second action. From a strong position upon 
this hill General Sullivan, as we have seen, scattered the Fortieth 
and Fifty-fifth regiments after Mawhood's defeat. 

To return to our history. Princeton, although not the scene 
of further hostilities, continued to be used as a military post until 
the end of the war. The College building and the old Presby- 
terian Church were occupied as barracks, hospital, and military 
prison, and suffered proportionately. As late as 1783 when the 
National Congress came to Princeton, Nassau Hall had been 
only partially put in order, and the Church was not thoroughly 
repaired until the year 1784. 

In the historical sketch of the University we have dealt at 
some length with the visit of Congress and their sessions in the 
old library-room in Nassau Hall. Late in the summer of 1783 
the President of Congress wrote to General Washington, then at 
Newburgh, requesting his attendance at Princeton. The house 
of Judge Berrien at Rocky Hill was assigned as the General's 
official residence. This old building, known as 

Washington's Headquarters, is now the property of the 







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" Washington Headquarters Association of Rocky Hill," con- 
sisting of many of the most prominent men and women of New 
Jersey, among whom Mrs. J. Thomson Swann of Princeton has 
taken the leading part. It stands upon the road between Rocky 
Hill and Kingston, about four and a half miles from Princeton, 
and is open to visitors. The house has been restored as much as 
possible to its original appearance and has been filled with many 
objects of historic interest. Here dwelt the Commander in Chief 
from August 24, until the beginning of November, 1783, and 
here* was penned his farewell address to the " armies of the 
United States." 

Much could be written of the famous personages who have 
visited this old house. Here soldiers, statesmen, and foreign 
ministers vied with one another in doing homage to the man of 
whom all men spoke. Here, also, came artists to take the 
General's likeness, and men of letters who were ever welcome, 
— of whom none came oftener or was more welcome than Tom 
Paine. Many of Washington's comrades in arms visited the 
house too. Humphreys, Cobb, Lincoln, and a round of the best 
company constantly filled its little rooms. The dining-room, at 
the southeast corner of the first floor, often failed to accommodate 
the guests and tables were then set upon the lawn. Here upon 
one occasion dined the President, members, and great officers of 
the Congress ; the President upon the General's right and the 
Minister of France upon his left. "The repast was elegant," 
writes one of the guests, David Howell of Rhode Island, " but 
the General's company crowned the whole." These days of 
gladness and relaxation were undoubtedly among the pleasantest 
of Washington's life. The Washington of Rocky Hill is, per- 
haps, the happiest Washington of history. 

* The little room at the southeast corner of the second story is pointed out as the 
room in which this address was written. 



Il8 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

In May, 1786, James Tod began the publication at Princeton 
of a weekly paper, called the Princeton Packet, neatly printed 
with a vignette of Nassau Hall in its headletter. It continued 
to be published for several years, just how long, however, we 
are unable to say. The town, from its position upon the great 
post road which crossed the State, in 1786 had grown to be 
a centre of travel. Several public stages ran regularly be- 
tween New York and Philadelphia, meeting at Princeton those 
which came from Morristown and other points not upon the 
main highway. From an advertisement in the New Jersey 
Gazette we learn that " a stage-waggon, commodiously fitted 
for passengers, will set out from the sign of the Cross-Keys at 
the corner of Chestnut and Third streets in Philadelphia, every 
Wednesday and Saturday morning, precisely at 10 o'clock 
and proceed to Princeton. . . . The route of this stage is from 
the Cross-Keys on Wednesday to Four Lanes End ; Thurs- 
day morning proceed to Trenton, to the house of Jacob Ber- 
gen, there breakfast ; from thence to Princeton, to the house 
of Colonel Jacob Hyer (the famous Hudibras tavern), and 
return to Trenton the same evening ; from thence next morn- 
ing by Four Lanes End to Philadelphia." From this itinerary it 
will be seen that the journey from Philadelphia to Princeton and 
return occupied three days, which was also the time required be- 
tween Philadelphia and New York, John Mersereau's " Flying 
Machine," however, in 1774 had made the trip in two days. 
A few years later, in 1807, ^ company was incorporated which 
opened the turnpike leading to Trenton by way of Mercer Street, 
thus diverting much of the travel from the old King's Highway. 
The historian of Princeton tells us that " the whole route was 
lined with stages day and night. The hotels were employed to 
the utmost of their capacity, in entertaining and feeding pas- 
sengers and horses. Hundreds of horses could often be seen at 




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THE TOWN 119 

one time in the streets, upon the arrival and departure of coaches. 
The dust in dry weather filled the air along the whole route, and 
in winter the roads were so cut up as to become at times almost 
impassable." This day of stage-coaches, when passengers kept 
the little village astir night and day, brought with it a colony of inn- 
keepers who hung out the sign of the " Red Lion," the " Hudibras," 
the " General Washington," the " College," — and many others, 
some famous and some infamous accounts of which have come 
down to us. Of the many taverns which existed in Princeton a 
hundred years ago but one is still standing, the old 

College Inn, now the Nassau Hotel on the main street 
opposite the First Presbyterian Church, whose sign bore upon 
it a representation of Nassau Hall. This house was built in 
1757 by Judge Thomas Leonard, one of the earliest settlers at 
Princeton, of brick imported from Holland. After Judge Leon- 
ard's death the house was made a tavern and since then has 
changed hands many times and has been enlarged greatly beyond 
its original dimensions. During the Revolution it was kept by 
Christopher Beekman. It is now the property of Mr. A. D. 
Cook. The " Hudibras," where John Adams stopped while on 
his way to the Congress in 1 774, was perhaps the most famous 
of the old taverns. It stood at the corner of Nassau Street and 
College Lane, the roadway leading to Prospect between Dickinson 
Hall and the Library, and was removed about the year 1 868 
when the lower campus became College property. 

Thus we find Princeton at the end of its first hundred years a 
place of some importance. It had its church, its academy, a 
college, some half dozen inns, and about one hundred dwellings, 
all within the Hmits of the present borough. Of the old 

First Presbyterian Church, we have as yet given but passing 
notice. Until 1766, when a meeting-house was erected where 
the present structure stands, the village was without a church of 



I20 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

its o\vn. The townsfolk of the Presbyterian faith before that 
year had been wont to attend ser\'ices at Maidenhead (Law- 
rence\Tlle), or at Kingston, both of which places had churches and 
were near at hand, and later, when Nassau Hall was built m 
1756, rented pews in the College prayer hall, where they listened 
to the eloquent preaching of Presidents Burr, Edwards, Da\ies, 
and Finley. In 1 762 sufficient funds were raised by subscription, 
in which the College cooperated, to commence the erection of a 
meeting-house on the lot which adjoined the President's house. 
This building, which stood upon the site of the present church, 
but placed with its side toward the street and not its end as the later 
one is built, was first opened for ser\ace in i ^66. The church 
continued for many years to be used by both the College and the 
townspeople as a common place of worship, the President of the 
College ser\dng also as its pastor. Here Witherspoon, on the 
17th of May, 1776, preached his famous sermon on "The domin- 
ion of Providence over the passions of men," which, addressed to 
John Hancock, President of Congress, was published and widely 
circulated both in this country and in England. During the 
Revolution the church suffered considerably at the hands of both 
armies and was not thoroughly repaired until 1784. In 1793, 
owing to the infirmities of Dr. Witherspoon, the Reverend Samuel 
Finley Snowden was called to preside over the affairs of the con- 
gregation. Since that year the church has had its own pastor. 
On the sixth of July, 1835, fire for the second time laid the build- 
ing in ashes, and in 1836 the present edifice was erected. 

The story of Princeton's second century must needs be briefly 
told, for it has been our purpose to deal more particularly with 
the ancient memories and traditions which cling to the place, 
rather than with its later days. One of the most important 
events in the history of the town during the nineteenth century 
was the establishment of the Theological Seminary of the Pres- 




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byterian Church at Princeton in 1 8 1 2. Of this we shall speak 
more fully in a later chapter. In 18 14, during the second war 
with England, General Winfield Scott with a detachment of 
troops passed through the town on his way to the front. After 
the close of that struggle General Scott again visited Princeton, 
and, as it so happened, on the day of the annual Commencement. 
He was made the guest of honor and was seated upon the plat- 
form in the old church with the Trustees and distinguished visi- 
tors. Bloomfield Mcllvaine, the class valedictorian, during the 
course of his oration turned to General Scott "and apostro- 
phized him as the patriot soldier, fresh from the battles for his 
country, with the laurel of victory on his brow." The speech 
aroused the wildest enthusiasm, and the hero of Lundy's Lane, 
we are told, " was more appalled than if he had been confronted 
by a British regiment upon a field of battle." Of the visits of 
General Lafayette in 1824 and 1825 we have spoken upon a 
former page. 

In 1832, the great task of building the Delaware and Raritan 
Canal, which passes close to Princeton, was begun. The same 
year the Asiatic cholera broke out among the laborers engaged 
in this work, spreading consternation among the townsfolk and 
causing the College for a time to close its doors. Fortunately 
the disease was kept under control and the town escaped. The 
canal was completed in 1834. Travel across the State by means 
of the old stage coaches was largely superseded by the building 
of the Camden and Amboy Railroad, which formed a new route 
from Philadelphia to New York by way of Camden and Amboy. 
To reach this road from Princeton it was necessary to drive to 
Hightstown, whence the traveller might journey to either New 
York or Philadelphia by rail. In 1839, however, a branch road 
from Trenton to New Brunswick was constructed along the banks 
of the canal, greatly facilitating travel to and from the town, 



122 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

Both the canal and the branch railroad were largely the result of 
Princeton enterprise. When the tracks of the Camden and Am- 
boy road were straightened and removed from the bank of the 
canal to the neighborhood of Bear Swamp, about three miles 
from Princeton, a spur was built to what is now Princeton Junc- 
tion, which put the town in touch with the through trains on 
what was later called the " Grand Trunk Road." This change 
took place shortly after i860. The line has since passed 
into the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and is at the 
present day their main route between New York and Phila- 
delphia. 

The Princeton Bank, another important enterprise, was organ- 
ized and incorporated in 1834 under a special act of the Legis- 
lature. The first banking room was a " room and cellar in the 
house of John Joline." In 1836 the Bank moved into a new 
building erected for it at the head of Nassau Street which it oc- 
cupied until 1877 when other quarters were secured in the 
eastern wing of the University Hotel. The first building, still 
remembered as the " Old Bank," is at present occupied by the 
residence and printing establishment of Mr. W. C. C. Zapf. 
The Bank's first President was Robert Voorhees, a well-known 
merchant of Princeton ; Louis P. Smith was the first cashier, 
and J. V. D. Joline the first teller and accountant. Mr. Peter 
Bogart was appointed notary public, watchman, and runner, being 
compelled to give bond in the amount of ;^S,ooo and receiving 
for his services the munificent sum of ;^200 a year. Prominent 
among the first directors was Commodore Robert F. Stockton, 
whose name is associated with many of the most important en- 
terprises of that day. In 1868 the Bank gave up its State charter 
and took out a charter as a National Bank. Mr. Edward Howe 
became a director in 1871, and in 1872 was elected President. 
At the time of his election to the Board the stock of the Bank 



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THE TOWN 123 

was selling below 90, the deposits were about $70,000, and the 
surplus and undivided profits less than 1^3,000. Since then the 
business of the institution has steadily increased, until at present 
the deposits are in excess of $635,000, and the surplus over 
$90,000. In 1884 Mr. Leavitt Howe was elected Vice-President, 
which office he held until his death which occurred in July, 1 904, 
when Mr. Edward L. Howe, the assistant cashier, was elected in 
his place. In 1897 the Bank moved into its present commodious 
building, which was erected in 1896 from the designs of W. E. 
Stone at a cost of more than $40,000. The Bank has always 
been the Princeton depository of the University. 

Trinity Church. The New Jersey Patriot, published in 
August, 1827, contains an account of a meeting of persons in- 
terested in the erection of an Episcopal church at Princeton, 
held at Joline's Hotel. The cornerstone of the first church 
building was laid by Bishop Doane, July 4, 1833. On the same 
day, just thirty-five years later, the cornerstone of the present 
edifice was laid by Bishop Odenheimer with appropriate cere- 
monies. The first church " was a handsome Grecian building, 
rough-cast, and standing with gables to the street." It was later 
removed to make way for the present building. Trinity Church 
is constructed in the Gothic style, of stone quarried in the neigh- 
borhood, and ornamented with brownstone trimmings. It stands 
on its lot, which extends from Stockton Street through to Mercer 
Street. Near it is the Potter Memorial House and the pri- 
vate burial place of the Potter family. Across Stockton Street 
stands 

The Princeton Inn, which was opened in September, 1893. 
It was built by several of the alumni, who, realizing the need of a 
hotel of the highest class in Princeton, purchased a number of 
acres of the historic estate of Morven in the centre of the town, 
upon which the present building was erected. The grounds 



124 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

form an attractive little park, containing, among many large 
chestnut and other trees, the famous row of catalpas planted by 
Richard Stockton, the Signer, about the year 1761. The Inn 
has amply justified the forethought of its builders and has prob- 
ably done more than any one thing to transform Princeton from 
an ordinary village to one of the most admired and best known 
places in the country, celebrated for its beauty and desirability 
as a residence, as well as for its famous institutions of learning. 
It is governed by a board of seven directors, all graduates of the 
University, and contains accommodations for about one hundred 
persons. 

Westland, the residence of the Honorable Grover Cleveland, 
was erected in 1854 by Commodore Stockton, for his daughter, 
Mrs. William A. Dod. It stands on the western side of Bayard 
Lane, at the corner of Hodge Avenue. Opposite is 

Avalon, the residence of Dr. Henry van Dyke. The origin 
of this fine old house may be traced back to the occupancy of 
Dr. Edmund Bainbridge, who a few years previous to 1 800 pur- 
chased the property and built an addition to a house then stand- 
ing upon it. Dr. Bainbridge afterwards sold the place to Mrs. 
Gibbes, a daughter of Colonel George Morgan of Prospect, who 
in 1806 disposed of it to Judge Samuel Bayard, from whom the 
street upon which the house stands takes its name. 

The Commodore Bainbridge House, which stands upon the 
western corner of Nassau Street and Vandeventer Avenue, might 
well be marked with a tablet as the birthplace of one of the na- 
tion's most distinguished naval officers. Although the exact age 
of this house is not recorded it is known to have been standing 
before the Revolution, and it appears at that time to have been 
the property of Quartermaster Robert Stockton of Constitution 
Hill. One of its earliest occupants was Dr. Absalom Bainbridge, 
a graduate of the College in the class of 1762, who practised 




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medicine at Princeton between the years 1770 and 1775. Here, 
on the seventh of May, 1 774, was born a son, William Bainbridge, 
who afterwards became famous as the commander of the frigate 
ConstiUition in the second war with Britain. His most brilliant 
exploit was the taking of the frigate Java, in September, 1 8 1 2. 
The house later passed into the hands of Dr. Ebenezer Stockton, 
a son of the Quartermaster. Dr. Stockton was graduated from 
the College in 1780 and having studied surgery, served for a 
time in the army during the closing days of the Revolution. 
Later he returned to Princeton and commenced the practise of 
medicine, with which he continued to be identified for more than 
fifty years. Dr. Stockton died in 1837, in the seventy-seventh 
year of his age. His two daughters were noted beauties and 
the old house became famous as the centre of the wit and fash- 
ion of the town. Perhaps it is even now better known as the 
home of the Misses Stockton, than as the birthplace of the hero 
of the Constitution. 

The Cemetery, which has been called the " Westminster 
Abbey of America " by reason of the many noted persons who 
there lie buried, is situated upon Witherspoon Street, north of 
Wiggins Street. Here are the graves of the Presidents of the 
College, Colonial Justices, King's Councillors, Members of the 
Continental Congress, a Signer of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, a Vice-President of the United States, and many other dis- 
tinguished men. 

The Cemetery at present contains some ten acres of land. 
The older part, bordering upon Wiggins Street, was conveyed 
by Thomas Leonard to the Trustees of the College for a bury- 
ing ground about the year 1756. It is described as a place of 
burial, in 1 763, in a deed of adjoining land, from Thomas Leonard 
to Thomas Wiggins. In 1783 the trustees of the Presby- 
terian church agreed not to bury any person on the church 



126 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

lot, adjoining the college property, and in return the college 
later transferred to them their title in the cemetery. The 
oldest grave of which there is record is that of Dickinson 
Shepherd, a student in the College, who was buried here in 
1761. 

Entering the Cemetery by the gate at the corner of Wither- 
spoon and Wiggins streets, the visitor will see on the right and 
left the monuments of the older Princeton families, bearing many 
notable names and interesting inscriptions. Not far from the 
entrance, and on the south side, lies the Stockton lot, surrounded 
by a hemlock hedge, enclosing the graves of Richard Stockton, 
his descendants, and many of their kindred. Adjoining this on 
the eastern side is the old College lot containing the graves of 
the Presidents, which is perhaps the chief object of interest in 
the Cemetery. 

Here beneath the old stones, covered with quaintly worded 
and scarcely legible Latin inscriptions, lie the rulers of the an- 
cient College since the days of President Burr.* The first grave 
is that of President Burr, who died September 24, 1 75 7. At its 
foot an upright slab marks the grave of his famous son. Colonel 
Aaron Burr, Vice-President of the United States, who was 
buried here at his own request. The stone bears the following 
simple and dignified inscription : " Aaron Burr. Born Feb. 6, 
1756. Died Sept. 14, 1836. A Colonel in the Army of the 
Revolution. Vice-President of the United States from 1801-5." 
Next to President Burr's tomb is the grave of President Jonathan 
Edwards, the great preacher and physicist ; the third is that of 
President Samuel Davies, who died February 4, 1761 ; and the 
fourth is a cenotaph of President Samuel Finley, who died in 
Philadelphia, July 17, 1766, and was buried there. The fifth 

* The first President, Jonathan Dickinson, is buried in Elizabeth, as he died be- 
fore the College was moved to Princeton. 



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stone is in memory of President Witherspoon, and next to it is 
the tomb of President Samuel Stanhope Smith. Beyond Dr. 
Smith's monument is one to Professor Walter Minto and his 
wife. The graves of Presidents Green, Carnahan, and Maclean 
follow. At the head of the lot and upon its eastern side is the 
tomb of President James McCosh, who died November 1 6, 1 894. 
Further to the east, on Wiggins Street, is the Theological Semi- 
nary lot, and still further east are the lots set apart for students 
of the Seminary and College. 



THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 



V 

THE PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 

In the year 1 809 a proposal to establish a theological seminary 
for the Presbyterian Church was introduced to the General As- 
sembly in the form of an overture from the Presbytery of Phila- 
delphia. This overture was referred to a select committee, who 
reported favorably, recommending that three alternate plans be 
submitted to the presbyteries for consideration. The first of 
these plans proposed establishing one great school in some place 
near the centre of influence of the Church. The second pro- 
vided for two schools, one in the north, and the other among the 
southern states. The third proposed establishing a school of 
divinity in each of the synods. The reports from the presbyteries 
in 1 8 10 led the General Assembly to decide upon a single school, 
and to appoint a committee to prepare a plan for a " Theological 
Seminary," to be considered at their next meeting. This com- 
mittee consisted of the Rev. Dr. Ashbel Green, President of the 
College, Doctors Woodhull, Romeyn, and Miller, and the Rever- 
end Archibald Alexander, James Richards, and Amzi Armstrong. 
In 1 8 1 1 the proposed plan of " The Theological Seminary of the 
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America" was 
adopted, and in 181 2 the location of the Seminary was fixed 
temporarily at Princeton. 

In 1 8 10 the Trustees of the College had made an effort to raise 

131 



132 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

a fund sufficient to endow a professorship of theology, but the 
General Assembly had proceeded so far in establishing a semi- 
nary that the plan was later abandoned. A committee from the 
Trustees was then appointed to confer with a committee from the 
General Assembly upon the subject of a theological seminary, 
and an agreement was entered into which provided, among other 
things, that the Assembly should have the privilege of erecting 
their seminary buildings on College property, if it should be 
deemed advisable ; that the College should give them every ac- 
commodation in their buildings until others were erected for the 
seminary ; that the instructors and students of the seminary be 
allowed the free use of the College library ; and that as long as 
the seminary should remain at Princeton no professorship of the- 
ology should be established in the College. This agreement, 
which gave every advantage to the seminary, was drawn by Pres- 
ident Ashbel Green, who was also, as a member of the General 
Assembly, the author of the plan for the " Theological Seminary " 
before alluded to. Fortunately for both institutions the buildings 
of the seminary were erected upon grounds of their own, and the 
only provisions of the agreement which became binding were those 
relating to the use of the College library, and the establishment 
of a theological professorship. 

In 18 1 2 the Assembly elected the Reverend Archibald Alex- 
ander, then pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church in Philadel- 
phia, Professor of Didactic and Polemic Theology. At a meeting 
of the Directors, held at Princeton in June of that year. Dr. 
Ashbel Green was chosen President of the Board, and a Vice- 
President and Secretary were appointed. On August 12, 18 12, 
Professor Alexander was inaugurated and the first session of the 
Seminary, that of 18 12-13, was begun in the Doctor's study with 
three students in attendance. Before this session closed eleven 
more had been admitted, making a total of fourteen. The fol- 



THE PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 1 33 

lowing year the Reverend Samuel Miller, D. D., was elected Pro- 
fessor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government, and was 
inaugurated by the Directors on the 29th of September. 

The want of a proper building, which should contain both lec- 
ture rooms and lodgings for the students, led the General As- 
sembly in 1 8 1 5 to undertake the erection of a suitable edifice 
which should fully answer these purposes. In pursuance of this 
plan, 

Alexander Hall was built in 18 16, upon land acquired from 
Richard Stockton along the Trenton turnpike, now Mercer 
Street. This building, constructed of light brownstone, is one 
hundred and fifty feet in length and fifty in width, and four 
stories in height. It stands upon the central part of the Sem- 
inary grounds, facing Mercer Street. When finished it contained 
lecture rooms, refectory, oratory, and library, with rooms for the 
steward and lodgings for about eighty students. It is now used 
exclusively as a dormitory, having been renovated and improved 
by Mr, John C. Green of New York. For many years this first 
building was called the " Old Seminary " and it was not until 
1894 that it was named Alexander Hall, in honor of Dr. Archi- 
bald Alexander. Its cost was $47,000. 

The new accommodations brought prosperity to the Institution 
and the number of students rapidly increased. In 1824 the 
graduating class numbered sixty-two, and since that time these 
classes have numbered between sixty and eighty. In 1820 Mr. 
Charles Hodge was appointed Assistant Teacher of the Ori- 
ental Languages of the Holy Scripture, and two years later he 
was elected Professor of Oriental and Biblical Literature. In 
1824 a charter was obtained from the New Jersey Legislature, 
and in accordance with its terms the property and funds of the 
Seminary were placed in charge of a Board of Trustees, the cor- 
porate name becoming the " Trustees of the Theological Sem- 



134 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

inary of the Presbyterian Church." At present (1904-05) the 
Faculty numbers seventeen and the students in attendance 
number one hundred and eighty-nine. Francis Landey Fatten, 
D.D,, LL.D., Ex-President of Princeton University, is now Presi- 
dent of the Seminary. As a guide to the visitor the following 
description of the grounds and buildings of the Institution has 
been prepared. 

Miller Chapel. North of Alexander Hall, which has been 
described, and facing Mercer Street stands Miller Chapel, built 
in 1833 and named in honor of Dr. Samuel Miller. It is a white 
brick building, in the Grecian style of architecture, about sixty 
feet in length by forty-five in width. It contains several tablets 
in memory of the early professors. 

Hodge Hall, a dormitory named in honor of Dr. Charles 
Hodge, is situated back of Alexander Hall, and a little to the 
south. It was built in 1893 from money bequeathed by Mrs, 
Mary Stuart, the widow of Mr. Robert L. Stuart of New York. 
It is constructed of brownstone and is four stories in height. 
The suites are so arranged that every room receives the sunlight 
during some part of the day. The accommodations are for 
seventy men. 

The Refectory is a one-story structure, standing east of the 
Old Seminary Building and about midway between it and Brown 
Hall. It was originally built (1847) ^s a dining hall for the 
students and was designed to furnish them board at a small ex- 
pense. It soon proved unpopular and has since been turned to 
other uses. The building is now occupied as a dormitory. Its 
original cost was about j^8,ooo. 

Stuart Hall. Fronting on Alexander Street and opposite 
Dickinson Street stands Stuart Hall, the gift of Robert L. and 
Alexander Stuart. It contains the lecture halls and recitation 
rooms of the Seminary. The building was erected in 1876 at a 



THE PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 135 

cost of ^140,000, which includes the value of the land upon 
which it stands, also a gift from the same generous benefactors of 
the Seminary. It is built of stone, variegated in color, with mas- 
sive carved trimmings and with a high tower, somewhat like that 
of the School of Science building upon the University campus. 

Brown Hall, built in 1864 at a cost of ^30,000, bears the 
name of Mrs, George Brown of Baltimore, who gave the money 
for its erection. It is built of light brownstone and somewhat 
resembles the Old Seminary in size and appearance. Brown 
Hall is designed as a dormitory and furnishes accommodations 
for about seventy-five men. It stands near Alexander Street 
south of Stuart Hall. The cornerstone was laid in May, 1864, 
by the Moderator of the General Assembly. 

Lenox Reference Library. This building was erected in 
1843 by James Lenox of New York and presented to the Sem- 
inary, together with a deed for three acres of land, bounded by 
Library Place, Mercer, and Stockton streets, upon which it 
stands. The cost of this property, including the Library, was 
$31,000. The building, which is constructed of stone in the 
Gothic style, is now used as a reference library and reading 
room. 

Lenox Library. In 1879, Mr. Lenox erected another Library 
upon the same property and close to the first building. In this 
structure the general library of the Institution is now located. 
At the present time (1904-05) the total number of bound vol- 
umes in the united buildings is 73,000, besides which there are 
more than 29,000 pamphlets and unbound periodicals. The 
Library is open to visitors from 9 a. m. until i p. m. on Satur- 
days, and on every other weekday during term time from 9 a. m. 
until I p. m., and from 2 until 5 p. m. There are many things 
of interest in the Library, not the least important of which is the 
fine series of portraits of the early professors of the Institution. 



THE LAWRENCEVILLE SCHOOL 



VI 

THE LAWRENCEVILLE SCHOOL 

Situated on the old King's Highway, about six miles from 
Princeton and the same distance from Trenton, lies the little 
village of Lawrenceville. Anciently called Maidenhead, it be- 
came Lawrenceville in 1 8 1 5 in honor of Captain James Lawrence, 
the gallant commander of the frigate Chesapeake. This hamlet 
of Maidenhead, or Lawrenceville as it is now called, was settled 
about the year 1700, and is therefore of nearly the same age 
as its larger neighbor, Princeton. When the colonial assembly 
erected the county of Hunterdon they decreed that the " Court 
of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions " should be held al- 
ternately at Maidenhead and Hopewell, and it so happened 
that the first court of the County was held at Maidenhead on 
the second Tuesday of June, 1714, which appears to be the first 
official mention of the place. The magistrates present were 
John Bainbridge, Jacob Bellerjeau, Philip Phillips, William Green, 
John Holcomb, Samuel Green, and Samuel Fitch. 

Nearly one hundred years ago, as early as 18 10, the Rever- 
end Isaac V. Brown, a graduate and later a Trustee of Princeton 
College, opened in Maidenhead a boys' classical school. Partly 
by reason of its healthful and attractive location, and partly by 
reason of the excellent manner in which it was conducted, the 
school proved a success from the very beginning. Commencing 
with nine pupils the number soon increased as the institution 

139 



140 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

gained in efficiency and became more fully equipped for its work. 
Prominent among these early scholars are the names of John 
Maclean, President of Princeton College, Robert Breckinridge, 
President of Jefferson College, Charles Smith Olden, Governor 
of New Jersey, Henry Woodhull Green, Chief Justice and 
Chancellor of the State, and his brother, John C. Green, the dis- 
tinguished merchant of New York, of whom we shall later 
speak. 

In the year 1832 Mr. Alexander H. Phillips became associated 
with Dr. Brown in the management of the school, and in 1839 the 
Reverend Samuel Hamill and his brother, the Reverend Hugh 
Hamill, took over its control. Under their direction the in- 
stitution became widely known as the " Lawrenceville Classical 
and Commercial High School," offering a curriculum which was 
in that day considered the equivalent of a college course, and 
gathering a patronage from every part of the country. A con- 
temporary,* writing of Lawrenceville in 1844, speaks of it as a 
" literary institution in excellent repute and favorably located for 
health and study." The Hamill regime lasted until 1881, when 
a charter was secured and the name of the school became " The 
Lawrenceville School, John C. Green Foundation." 

The change in name, however, had been preceded by a 
still greater change in the affairs of the institution. One of the 
original nine, who attended the first school under the Reverend 
Isaac Brown, was John Cleve Green. When but a mere lad of 
fourteen he quitted his Lawrenceville home and entered the 
house of N. L. and G. Griswold, merchants in the China trade 
in New York. There his innate business ability soon brought 
him advancement and he became supercargo of the famous tea 
clipper Panama, making many voyages to South America and 
the Orient. In 1833 he was admitted to the house of Russell 

* Historical Collectiotts of the State of New Jersey, New York, 1844. 




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THE LAWRENCEVILLE SCHOOL I4I 

and Company, in Canton, China, and there laid the foundation 
of his large fortune. Six years later he returned to New York 
and married Miss Griswold, a daughter of George Griswold, 
Esq., of that city. Here he became prominent in the public 
and commercial enterprises of the day. Mr. Green was for a 
number of years a director of the Bank of Commerce, a member 
of the Chamber of Commerce, and a trustee of many of the lead- 
ing charitable and pubUc institutions of New York. Of his many 
benefactions to Princeton and his deep interest in the welfare of 
the College we have spoken in another chapter, nor was Prince- 
ton the only institution that knew him as a benefactor. In 1875 
Mr. Green died, leaving the principal part of his fortune under 
the direction of his residuary legatees. 

These legatees- — a surviving brother, Caleb Smith Green, 
judge of the Court of Errors and Appeals, a nephew, Charles 
Ewing Green, a friend, John T. Nixon, and his widow — de- 
termined to employ the fortune thus left at their disposal in 
founding an endowed school which should fittingly perpetuate 
the name of the Lawrenceville boy. Their first step was the pur- 
chase, soon after 1878, of the property of the Hamill School. 
In 1 88 1 a charter was secured and a board of seven trustees 
elected, who have since controlled the affairs of the institution. 
Thus Lawrenceville became the first endowed school of the 
Middle Atlantic States.* 

Mr. Charles Ewing Green, the youngest of John C. Green's 
legatees, was the most active of the founders, and continued for a 
period of eighteen years his unselfish devotion to the growing in- 
terests of the institution. His services to both Lawrenceville and 

* It is of course an entirely independent organization. The board fills its own 
vacancies and is self-perpetuating. Contrary to a wide-spread impression, it does 
not prepare candidates for Princeton alone. Less than half of its graduates go to 
Princeton. It now has representatives in more than a dozen colleges and uni- 
versities. 



142 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

Princeton, of which he was also a Trustee, cannot be overestimated. 
By the deliberate sacrifice of a very natural ambition he secured 
for himself the leisure which enabled him to give his entire time 
to the institutions with which he was so long identified. He had 
been trained for the bar and came of a family that had won dis- 
tinction in the legal profession, but he clearly realized the re- 
sponsibilities of his trusteeship and gave himself wholly to his 
great task. To him Lawrenceville owes more than to any other, 
and the school itself is a lasting monument to his clear judgment 
and intelligent planning. Since his death, which occurred in 
1897, his son, Henry W. Green, has been President of the 
Board of Trustees and Treasurer of the School, and is guard- 
ing the great trust placed in his keeping. 

In 1883 Dr. Hamill, after serving the school for a period of 
nearly fifty years, retired, and James Cameron Mackenzie, Ph.D., 
a graduate of Lafayette College, was appointed Head Master. 
The present Head Master is Dr. Simon John McPherson, a grad- 
uate and also a Trustee of Princeton, who succeeded Dr. Mac- 
kenzie in 1899, and who is successfully carrying forward the 
educational work of the school. The grounds were enlarged 
by the purchase of neighboring farm lands and skilfully laid out 
under the direction of Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape 
architect. New buildings, planned by Peabody and Stearns of 
Boston, rose among the trees and in the fall of 1884 the school 
was ready to begin again its life of usefulness upon a new and 
wider foundation. 

As we have said Dr. Mackenzie was the first Head Master of 
Lawrenceville under its new foundation, and to him is due the 
chief credit for organizing the educational and domestic system 
of the school. This system, moulded upon the plan of the Eng- 
lish " House System," whereby the boys are quartered in the 
different masters' houses rather than grouped in one or more 







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THE LAWRENCEVILLE SCHOOL 143 

large dormitories, as is so generally the case here, gives Law- 
renceville its greatest claim to distinction among American 
schools. Nowhere else is it carried out on so large a scale. Al- 
though but two decades have passed since this system was es- 
tablished its efficiency has been amply tested and the success of 
the school has proved the wisdom of the experiment. 

With the exception of the fifth, or highest form, the members 
of the school are required to live in the masters' houses, of which 
five are grouped about the " circle," and seven are in its immedi- 
ate vicinity. Each of these ** circle " houses accomodates some 
thirty boys, and the life " is just such a healthy, spirited, juvenile 
existence as it ought to be, not perhaps offering a perfect substi- 
tute for the life of an ideal home, but preferable in many respects 
to that of the average household."* For the younger boys 
several smaller houses have been established in which the number 
in residence varies from six to eighteen. 

One of the distinctive features of the Lawrenceville plan is 
its Upper House, erected in 1 892. Here the seventy-six highest 
scholars of the graduating class live, and as a preparation for 
the larger freedom of college life enjoy a greater personal liberty 
than is permitted in the masters' houses. The government of 
the house is maintained by two masters, and a board of seven 
directors, who are elected semiannually from its residents. Al- 
though the use of tobacco is generally prohibited at Lawrence- 
ville, it is recognized to a certain extent by allowing the mem- 
bers of the senior form, who have received a written permission 
from home, to smoke pipes or cigars, but not cigarettes, in rooms 
especially provided for this purpose in the Upper House. It is 
not permitted, however, elsewhere in the building nor upon the 
grounds. Under these restrictions My Lady Nicotine has be- 
come the peculiar prerogative of the older boys, and their support 

*0. F. Adams, Some Famotts Afnerican Schools. Boston, 1903. 



144 "rHE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

has thus been tactfully secured to prevent smoking among the 
younger members of the school. The Hamill House, accommo- 
dating thirty boys, was made an annex to the Upper House in 
1900 and has been placed upon the same footing. 

The course of study at Lawrenceville now covers five years of 
work preparatory to college, and includes in its curriculum music, 
elocution, and free-hand and mechanical drawing, taught in regu- 
lar classes. Formerly a four-year course obtained which followed 
closely the old New England academy model, but the increasing 
demands of the colleges have widened the course materially, par- 
ticularly in the teaching of science subjects. Lawrenceville 
maintains well equipped laboratories in which physics, chemistry, 
zoology, botany, and physiology are now taught. There are two 
courses, the classical and the scientific. 

The social and athletic sides of the life at Lawrenceville are 
distinctive. The usual musical clubs flourish and public concerts 
are frequently given, in connection with contests in debating and 
declamation. Two literary societies, the Calliopean, founded in 
1852, and the Philomathean, dating from 1855, are maintained, 
and a new building is shortly to be erected by the alumni for the 
use of their members. An extensive course of lectures and con- 
certs adds entertainment and instruction during the winter 
term. 

The school's athletic life is well regulated and a high standard 
is kept up. The authorities very properly consider the physical 
side of a boy's training as second only to his mental development ; 
indeed,- modern methods of instruction, the course of study, and 
particularly the rate of work, all require that a boy should have 
firm health. The gymnasium holds a conspicuous place at Law- 
renceville, every member of the school being required, during the 
winter term, to exercise a certain number of hours a week within 
it. Swimming, boxing, wrestling, and other forms of indoor sport 



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THE LAWRENCEVILLE SCHOOL 1 45 

are encouraged and championship contests are of frequent occur- 
rence. The landed estate of the school, comprising nearly three 
hundred acres, provides ample space for out-of-door games in their 
season. There are many graded playing fields for football and 
baseball, in addition to some thirty clay tennis courts, and an ex- 
cellent golf course. 

During the current year there have been 405 boys in resi- 
dence at Lawrenceville (1904-05), and the roll of masters and 
officers numbers forty. The average cost for each boy is about 
1^750 a year. As a matter of fact the school expends its entire 
income, whether derived from fees or from interest on endow- 
ment, for the benefit of its pupils. Strangers will find at Law- 
renceville great freedom and they are at liberty to examine any 
of the buildings whither their inclination may lead them. The 
Head Master is always glad to greet visitors and to have them 
shown about the school. 

Let us look for a moment at some of the Lawrenceville build- 
ings, several of which are notable examples of modern architec- 
ture. Perhaps the most interesting of them all is the 

Hamill House, the original school building, which stands 
upon the village street just at the left of the main entrance to 
the grounds. This fine old house, built about 18 14 of local 
stone, is now the home of the members of the Fifth Form who 
do not find residence in the Upper House, of which it is an an- 
nex. Entering the grounds from the street the visitor will pass 
on the left the 

Foundation House, the residence of Dr. McPherson, the 
present Head Master of the school. Almost hidden beneath its 
garment of green ivy and sheltered by clustering trees and 
shrubs it is one of the most attractive of the Lawrenceville 
houses. Beyond the Foundation House and flanking the west- 
ern side of the circle stands 



146 THE HANDBOOK OF PRINCETON 

The Upper House, whose character has already been de- 
scribed. It was built in 1892, and like all of the school build- 
ings is from the designs of Peabody and Stearns of Boston. It 
is a three-story structure whose length nearly equals that of the 
chief building of the school, 

Memorial Hall, which stands next beyond. This fine struc- 
ture, of brownstone in the massive Romanesque style, possesses a 
most impressive entrance. It contains twelve recitation rooms 
of large size, a study hall, and a library room for the entire 
school. On the second floor is an auditorium capable of seating 
over four hundred persons. The adjacent building, also of 
brownstone but newer in appearance, is the 

Edith Memorial Chapel, built in 1895 in memory of the 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John C. Green, who died in infancy. 
Here the boys gather for daily prayers, and on Sundays there 
are two general services, presided over by the Head Master or 
some visiting clergyman. The choir consists of forty boys who 
are in charge of a chorister. The chapel contains a memorial 
tablet and two Memorial hymn-boards, the first in memory of 
Charles Ewing Green, and the latter in memory of his son, John 
C. Green, a member of the class of 1889. 

The New Gymnasium, built in 1902, stands well back from 
the circle, on the brow of a ridge overlooking the athletic fields. 
Its pale brick and terra cotta trimmings give it a grace that sets 
it quite apart from all the other buildings of the school. The 
interior is perfectly appointed with bowling alleys, a large swim- 
ming pool, shower baths, a large exercise-room, locker-rooms, and 
other accessories. From the trophy room a good view may be 
obtained of the school grounds. It is unquestionably the largest 
and finest school gymnasium in the country. Returning to the 
Masters' houses, the 

Cleve, Griswold, WoodhuU, Dickinson, and Kennedy 




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THE LAWRENCEVILLE SCHOOL 147 

Houses, very similar in architectural outlines, complete the cir- 
cle in the order named. Their ivy-clothed walls and their pleas- 
ing and homelike air suggest the thought that life is much pleas- 
anter and better ordered here than in the older dormitory way 
of living. The 

Davis House, the farthest removed from the main school 
ground, was formerly a seminary for young ladies. Since 1883 
it has been one of the most popular of the boys' houses. The 
smaller houses, the 

Rose Hill, Wayside, Fairfax, Kafer, and Green Houses 
are properties which have either been acquired in recent years 
or leased by the school to accommodate the ever increasing num- 
ber of boys. The Fairfax House is new, and the others repre- 
sent the typical dwelling house adapted to school needs. The 

Lawrence Lodge, the inn of the school, also accommodates 
ten boys. It is situated on the village street, immediately oppo- 
site the main entrance of the grounds. There are in all some 
thirty buildings connected with the school. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



of Buildings, Collections, and Localities described in the Handbook 



Albert B. Dod Hall, 72 
Alexander Hall, 48 
Alexander Hall, Seminary, 133 
Art Museum, 69 

Athletic Clubhouse, The University, 87 
Athletic Field, The University, 88 
Avalon, present residence of Dr. Henry 
van Dyke, 124 

Bainbridge House, The Commo- 
dore, 124 
Bank, The Princeton, 122 
Barracks, The, 98 
Battlefield of Princeton, 109-116 
Biological Laboratory, 64 
Blair Hall, 50 

Bridge, The Old Stony Brook, 114 
Brokaw Field, 73 
Brokaw Memorial Building, 73 
Brown Hall, David, 72 
Brown Hall, Seminary, 135 

Campus Club, 84 

Cannon Club, 85 

Cannon, The Big, 52 ; The Little, 52 

Cap and Gown Club, 86 

Carnegie Lake, 78 

Cemetery, The Princeton, 125 

Chapel, Marquand, 64 

Charter Club, 87 



Chemical Building, 63 

Civil War Collection of Books and MSS. , 

The Pierson, 61 
Clark House, The Thomas, residence of 

H. E. Hale, 115 
Class of 1881 Collection of Casts, 71 
Cleve House, Lawrenceville School, 146 
Cleveland, Residence of ex- President, 

124 
Clio Hall, 50 
College Inn, 119 
Colonial Club, 85 
Constitution Hill, present residence of 

Junius S. Morgan, Esq., 114 
Cottage Club, The University, 86 

David Brown Hall, 72 

Davis House, Lawrenceville School, 

147 
Dean's House, The Old President's 

House, 34 
Dickinson Hall, 62 
Dickinson House, Lawrenceville School, 

146 
Dod Hall, Albert B., 72 
Dodge Hall, 65 
Drumthwacket, present residence of 

M. Taylor Pyne, Esq., 97 
Drumthwacket Lodge. See Thomas 

Olden's House 



152 



INDEX 



Edith Memorial Chapel, Law- 

renceville school, i46 
Edgerstoune, residence of Archibald D. 

Russell, Esq., 114 
Edwards Hall, 76 
Elm Club, 86 

Fairfax House, Lawrenceville 

School, 147 
First Presbyterian Church, 119 
Fitz Randolph Gateway, 77 
Foundation House, Lawrenceville 

School, 145 

Garrett Collection of Coins, 61 
Garrett Collection of Oriental MSS., 61 
Green, The John C. Green, School of 

Science, 62 
Green House, Lawrenceville School, 

147 
Griswold House, Lawrenceville School, 

146 
Ground where Mercer Fell, 116 
Gymnasium, New, 75 
Gymnasium, Old, 49 
Gymnasium, Lawrenceville School, 146 

Hale House (The Thomas Clark 
House), where General Mercer died, 

Hamill House, Lawrenceville School, 

145 
Hill Dormitory, 77 
Hodge Hall, Seminary, 134 
Hutton Collection of Death Masks, 58 

Infirmary, The Isabella McCosh, 

68 
Inn, The Princeton, 123 
Isabella McCosh Infirmary, 68 
Ivy Club, 85 



John C. Green School of Science 
Building, 62 



Kafer House, Lawrenceville 

School, 147 
Kennedy House, Lawrenceville School, 

146 
Key and Seal Club, 87 



Laboratory, Biological, 64 

Lake, Carnegie, 78 

Lawrence Lodge, Lawrenceville School, 

147 
Lawrenceville School, Historical Sketch 
of, 139; Buildings of, described, 145- 

147 
Lenox Library, Seminary, 135 
Lenox Reference Library, Seminary, 

135 
Library, The University, Historical 

Sketch of, 54; described, 55-62 
Little Hall, Stafford, 76 
Livingston Collection of Pottery, 70 

McCosH Hall, 78 

McCosh Walk, 66 

Magnetic Observatory, 67 

Marquand Chapel, 64 

Meeting House for the Society of 

Friends, 96 
Memorial Hall, Lawrenceville School, 

146 
Mill. See Worth's Mill 
Miller Chapel, Seminary, 134 
Morgan Collection of Virgils, 57 
Morse, The William Horace, Collection 

of Japanese Netsukes, 58 
Morven, 99 
Murray and Dodge Halls, 65 



INDEX 



153 



Museum, The E. M. Museum, described, 

37-47 
Museum of Historic Art, 69 

Nassau Hall, Historical Sketch 

OF, 34 ; described, 37-47 
Nassau Hall, built, 9 ; partially destroyed 

by fire, 20 ; the second fire, 23 
Nassau Hotel (The Old College Inn), 

119 
New Gymnasium, 75 

Observatory, Halsted, 49 

Observatory of Instruction, 84 

Observatory, Magnetic, 67 

Offices, University, 47 

Old Gymnasium, 49 

Old Stony Brook Bridge, 114 

Orrery, The, 14 

Philadelphian Society, 65 

Pierson Civil War Collection of Books 
and MSS., 61 

Portrait Gallery, in Nassau Hall, Cata- 
logue of, 43 

Power Company's Plant, The Univer- 
sity, 73 

Presbyterian Church, The First, 119 

President's House, The Old, 34 

Prime, The Trumbull-, Collection of 
Pottery and Porcelain, 69 et seq. 

Princeton, Historical Sketch of the 
Town of, 93-127 

Princeton Bank, 122 

Princeton, Battlefield of, 109-I16 

Princeton Inn, 123 

Princeton University Collection of 
Princetoniana, 61 

Prospect, residence of the President of 
the University, 66 

Pyne Dormitories, 76 



Pyne-Henry Collection of MSS. relat- 
ing to the History of the University, 
61 

Quadrangle Club, 84 
Quaker Meeting House, 96 

Ravine, The, near Battlefield of Prince- 
ton, 1x6 

Refectory, The Seminary, 134 

Reunion Hall, 47 

Rose Hill House, Lawrenceville School, 
147 

Science, The John C. Green School 

OF, 62 

Seminary. See under Theological Semi- 
nary of the Presbyterian Church 

Seventy-nine Hall, 67 

Stafford Little Hall, 76 

Stuart Hall, Seminary, 134 

Terrace Club, 87 

Theological Seminary of the Presby- 
terian Church, Historical Sketch of, 
131 ; Buildings of, described, 133- 

135 

Thomas Clarke House, present resi- 
dence of H. E. Hale, Esq., 115 

Thomas Olden's House, 113 

Tiger Inn, 85 

Tower Club, 87 

Trinity Church, 123 

Trumbull -Prime Collection of Pottery 
and Porcelain, described, 69 et seq. 

Tusculum, residence of President Wither- 
spoon, 19 ; described, 106 

University Athletic Clubhouse, 

87 
University Cottage Club, 86 



154 



INDEX 



University Field, 88 
University Hall, 49 
University Library. See Library, The 

University 
University Offices, 47 
University Power Company Plant, 

73 
University, Princeton, Historical Sketch 

of, 1-30; Grounds and Buildings of, 

described, 33-79 
Upper House, Lawrenceville School, 

146 
Upper Class Clubs and the University 

Athletic Ground, 83-90 



ViRGiLs, The Morgan Collection 
OF, 57 

Washington's Headquarters, 116 
Wayside House, Lawrenceville School, 

147 

West College, 48 

Westland, present residence of ex- 
President Cleveland, 124 

Whig Hall, 50 

Witherspoon Hall, 50 

Woodhull House, Lawrenceville School, 
146 

Worth's Mill, 97 



H281 83 




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